Hello, reader-of-this-story!

So...I really wanted to do a L4D/L4D2 story, because I love that game *coughcoughOTAKUcough* and I've been on a L4D-fix for a long time; so here! Hope you like it...

Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead belongs to VALVe, and not me. Meh. :/

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On the Brink

Chapter 1

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The pain was unbearable.

The deeper those teeth sunk in, the more the pain and the burn was inflicted upon him.

AGGHHH, GOD –

It took him by surprise. He never saw the undead bastard walk up behind him. And little did he know it wasn't one of them. No, it was worse. Much worse.

He reacted out of panic, desperately punching the flesh-hungry, bloodthirsty attacker. By the fourth punch, it had loosened its bite, and its face was a bloody, mutilated mess. The weak tissue and flesh couldn't withstand the powerful blows, yet it still stood upright; biting down on the poor man's arm, through the heavy military jacket and undershirt. So he did the next reasonable thing: he took out his gun and, without a wasted second, pulled the trigger.

Blood splattered all over his torso. Brain, eyeball, flesh, skull –pretty much all that was left of the head– exploded into a million tiny pieces, flying and sticking to the nearest objects. The decapitated body fell over with a loud thump, limbs bending in irregular ways as it did. He stared at the permanently lifeless body that lay sprawled over the ground.

The burning feeling was agonizing.

He gripped his arm, examining the casualty. He could feel the blood flow freely out of the bite mark, staining the jacket sleeve. Not wanting to touch the wound, he unsheathed his pocket blade and removed the surrounding fabric. When he finally got around to seeing the actual wound, he sucked in a big breath. The wound wasn't too big, but it wasn't small at all. Discoloration started occurring –a faint, pale grayish-green outlined the wound with a thin circle. The flesh around the bite turned pale quick. But the most distinguishable feature of the bite wasn't the appearance. It was the burn. The feel of burning flesh. It wasn't visibly burning, like a Spitter's acid on contact with human skin, but it definitely felt like it.

On further examination, he found that the darker the flesh was, the more the burning feel affected him.

Don't let it spread, was the first thing that came to mind. It spreads, you die. He prodded the dark flesh a few more times, before deciding that this could not happen to him. He couldn't let this spread; even if it wasn't infectious. The chance of something developing on the bite, even though it could've been non-infectious, was extremely high, especially in these days.

Inhaling deeply and deciding on what needed to be done to survive, he dug the tip of knife into the wound and picked away at the burning parts. Minutes into the self-operation, his military instincts kicked in; he got rid of what seemed to be the more infectious parts of the wound and bandaged it up quickly with his only health pack.

He sighed when the wound was somewhat treated and bandaged up. His entire forearm was numb, and badly needed a cleansing to wash all the dried blood that caked his skin. I'll worry about that later. Right now, I need to find my –

"BILL! There you are!" a familiar voice echoed throughout the alleyway. He turned his head and saw the other three running up to him. "We thought we lost you," Louis panted as he stopped in front of the military veteran.

Francis chuckled in agreement. "Yeah. Those cigs getting to your head, old man? Better lay 'em off or something bad's really gonna happen."

Bill looked at Francis and whapped him on the back of his head. "Respect your elders, boy," he scolded. Francis glared at him and shrugged.

Zoey took notice of the wrapped bandage and splattered blood on his arm. She raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"What's what?" he replied. Zoey pointed to his left arm, and he just looked down on it. "Oh, this? Nothing. Just gotta little scraped, is all," he lied. Zoey nodded her head and looked to Louis.

Louis smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." He pointed his thumb behind him and continued, "We found the safe house just up ahead. Think you can make it?"

Bill scoffed. "Louis, I've survived the Vietnam War. Running to a damn safe house should be like taking candy from a baby." he cocked his rifle and started to advance forward. "So let's get going, before it turns dark."

Zoey, Francis, and Louis straightened up and did the same. Together, they walked forward as a pack. Bill in the lead, Zoey and Louis on the sides, and Francis guarding the rear. Sure enough, the red door was visible through the dimming twilight sky, and they made a break for it.

Bill suddenly clutched his chest.

The other three stopped and turned around to look at him. He was wheezing; something was making it hard for him to breathe. His heart pounded and pounded, going so fast that it seemed impossible. He was breathing irregularly; short choppy breaths to long, air-desperate ones. The world seemed to blur, conjoining into one, multicolored picture. Following after was pitch black darkness.

"BILL!" someone shouted as all consciousness escaped him.

Sorry its so short, I did this in a short amount of time...while doing homework... anyways, it's mainly focused on Bill and the other original survivors. I wanted to try to fit the other survivors, like Ellis (sighhhhh...), in, but i think that'll be at the end somewhere.

So's, if ya like it, awesome. I really do appreciate that of you. And, not to be self-promoting and pushy, I'll give you Ellis's stolen hat if you review. :D

~NyanPoptart808 :}