Hey everyone! This is my first submission to , so everyone please read and review! I like to "keep it real" so expect blood and gore. Flames will be ignored/deleted.

I do not own Left 4 Dead; all unnamed characters not crucial to the story are copyright Valve.

..:: Evolution Chapter 1 – Transcendence ::..

"Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal."

— Benjamin Franklin

Unending pain, unending hunger, and unending hate forcing the lust to kill forward. Pushing onwards through the veil of undeath. Going without purpose, lashing out without aim, killing without thinking. Sounds leading, prey closing in. Danger passed, leap for the kill. Stop, danger still here. Detected! Flee! Pain! Blood! Vision fading! Leap! Fade into darkness. Hear shattering. Feel pain. Surface soft. Rest. Fading. Death.

Awaken in a bed. Bed? What's a bed? What is this feeling? Feelings. Feeling? Curiosity. State of wonder. Seeking out answers. Answers? What are answers? Pain! Head hurts so much! It stopped. Relativity. The gauge of personal opinion. My head hurts! Pain in my lower leg and arms. My? My... a state of personal being. I. Me, myself and I. Pain! My head hurts when I think! Thinking allows beings to model the world and to deal with it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires... what? What is this? My head hurts so much! Why won't it stop? Why must I be in pain? Why must I... who am I? Who am I?

Who am I?!

I woke up later, yes I did. Me, I have my own consciousness. I have Self-awareness. I have my own thoughts. I can't remember anything substantial apart from hidden knowledge, like what was what and what was not. Such as the light on me was the sun and if I stared at it too long I'll hurt my eyes. The broken frame over on my right was a window, broken glass cuts and should be cleaned up. I don't have any memories, only the crashing of a window and immense pain. I laid there and wondered where I am and what I was doing here. I don't have a name; I just have this awareness of being. "I think therefore I am" flashed in my mind. It made sense to me. Things were making as much sense as they could for a being without an identity. I'm not a being, I am human!

I slightly moved my head up to see the rest of what I defined as "me". I was wearing what I remember to be a sweater; it was black with a silvery lining on my arms. I was also wearing blood-stained jeans, which were torn near the thigh in a circular shape. Probably a bullet wound. Bullet... why did I know it was a bullet? Probably because nothing else would create such a shape, especially though my body. I was also wearing black shoes. I moved my body up along the top of the bed along the wall, moving my hands to my sides to help. I moved to grab the button on my jeans, and then stopped when I saw my hands. They weren't four fingers and a thumb. What were my fingertips were now elongated claws. I poked the bed experimentally with a finger, it cut through the fabric like it wasn't there.

That worried me, also it was the first time I was concerned about the shaky identity I have given me, which was "human". From what I could remember, humans didn't have claws, nevertheless claws that could shred easily. One human part of me was truly concerned though. I played around with the opening of my pants, trying my best not to shred anything and gently slid them down my legs. Thank God... whoever he was, it was still normal... or what I assumed to be normal. The bullet hole was there too, rather a light scarring in a circular shape. My skin was also slightly rougher. That also wasn't normal for a human, I should still be bleeding. My head throbbed as I remembered the feelings of pain and pleasure.

Okay, it is fine. I wasn't attached to that identity anyways. So I am a humanoid! Alright, I could deal with that. It just means I am either less than human or more than. A feeling came from me, making me think I was more than human. Was that narcissism, pride or something else altogether? I got up and tested my legs. They felt fine, even better than what I would describe as "normal". I just wanted to run as fast as I can and as far as I could across rooftops looking for something to eat. I wanted to jump over fences and over gaps. I wanted to hunt. I opened the drawers of whoever was living here, or lived here. I certainly don't know what is going on or what happened to me. I found a pair of jeans that were more or less the same shape as my old ones. They were black and by chance, they actually fit. They felt too baggy along the legs for some reason. I grabbed my old pants and gently took off the silvery tape. Silver tape. Duct tape. Ducks. Birds. Chicken. I want some chicken. Hmm... Oh well I'll deal with that later after my head stopped hurting! I started to remember feeling hungry and full. I felt somewhere in between.

As I was fumbling to put the last of the sticky duct tape on my pants I noticed something fell out of my old jeans' pocket. It was a rectangle-shaped and looked well-worn. I opened it up, inside there were a bunch of cards and some papers. I removed one of the cards that had a picture on it. I stared at it in wonder; there was a man on it along with some symbols. I wondered if it was me. I stared at the symbols, trying to decipher its meaning. Slowly it came back to me. City was one of them. London was another; something told me there was another London in a place called England. I wonder where England is. College, Fanshawe, Student, Business marketing. All these words make the picture slightly clearer except for one nagging detail. Who was this student of the business market? I got my answer: Damien Aaron Parker. Another card had that name on it. It read "Damien Parker, Assistant Manager. Tommy Hilfiger, Square One Mississauga. Canada". That might be me! I was then hit by another headache this one stronger than all the others as I regained a faint sense of identity.

I moved quickly to a room that I recall being named "bathroom" in which I would find a reflective glass called a "mirror". I stood in front of it and marvelled at the reflection staring back at me. I looked similar to the man in the picture! My hair was way too dirty and slightly longer, also bloodstained but still blonde. My face was lightly scarred in a few places but still looked more-or-less human. The only things betraying my identity were my eyes and teeth. My teeth were sharper then the charming smile that the man had. I tried it out, now it was just charming and creepy. Okay that settles that. I then stared at my eyes. They were a bright topaz, almost even glowing. They reminded me of a cat, whatever hose animals we- a furry creature that has a tail and eyes that are known to be able to see in the dark and land on their feet. They also hunt like I do. Did. My head hurt some more in a dull throbbing as more information was processed.

Alright, so my name is Damien Aaron Parker. I am similar to humans but gifted with claws and a possible ability to see in the dark. What would I be? In the back of my mind I came upon the easiest and most obvious name. I was a Hunter. "I amrrrrrrraaahhh" I said, my throat all scratchy and hoarse.

I grabbed a Styrofoam cup with then gentlest touch I could and filled it with water. I drank it down; it burned as my head throbbed with the feeling of being thirsty. I kept on drinking until my throat stopped hurting. Then I splashed it on my face to take off the blood on my mouth. Soon enough my throat no longer felt as damaged as it was before and my sweater was lightly soaked. I've learned my name, I've taught myself to put on pants. I will talk.

"My... na... name is... D-d-d.. Damien" I told myself "I... ahh... am a hhuuuun... hunter."

Good, baby steps were over. Now I had to leave this room that I was "born" in. I looked out the window; I was in an apartment building by the looks of it, about fifteen floors up. I looked across from the street. The building was over thirty stories high. My previous self must have jumped off the building and by chance landed in this room. That made the glass and pain memory sound true. The memory of what I will consider my birth.

I looked around for any movement, I couldn't see any. The street was deserted and abandoned cars were everywhere. I looked closer at the trashed street to see if I recognized anything. Then I saw all the bodies. I felt a bit of sadness as I moved away from the window, thinking of all that death of my cousin race. I had to find out what happened. I looked for another opening since I wasn't going to try and jump down fifteen stories into a deserted street. I moved to a wooden panel on the wall. The purpose was still in my head, except for how to operate it. I pushed on it. I hit it, causing me to slash long marks into it. I noticed that there was a handle. I took a grip on it and pushed, then pulled. Nothing happened. I then decided to just twist and rip it off. When I twisted though, the door moved open. I gasped at the opening of the door into a world that I didn't know. I was going to take the one large step into the unknown.

I stepped into the hallway, it was barely lit. What did attract my attention was the man in the corner. He was just standing there with his head on the wall; he was dressed in a business suit. "Ex—excuse me sir." I said.

He slowly turned around and I immediately knew he wasn't human; at least not anymore. The blood dripping from his mouth testified to that. He growled and looked at me with a hunger I couldn't describe as friendly. Then he yelled and ran at me with his fists balled as if he was going to beat me up like a fourth grader in the schoolyard. Schoolyard? I didn't have time to ponder these things as he was almost at me. I clenched my fists then swore as I cut myself on my new claws. I had to find a good way to use them. He punched me in the face and it snapped something inside me. Something primal and instinctive in the back of my mind was driving me. I jumped on him without caution and proceeded to mutilate him in ways that would leave him unrecognizable. Blood and gore covered the walls behind me as I clawed into him. When I was satisfied that he was more than dead I got off of him and stumbled backwards, almost stunned at what I did.

It wasn't the killing that made me fall back; it was the power at which I killed. I effortlessly ripped through the man's rib cage and his organs were in random places in the room. It pretty much looked as if he exploded. I wiped my claws off on a set of curtains that were hanging on the end of the hall before I heard another cry. This time it as from multiple people and it wasn't the same as the crazed man that I saw. These were what my mind categorized as "human" and it sounded like it was coming from outside the apartments.

I ran through the halls looking for a staircase, cutting through a few other bloodstained creatures that tried to get in my way. By the time I killed my third... thing I was able to properly fight with my claws instead of my fists. By using them like daggers I was able to better defend myself. Unfortunately they wouldn't stop bullets that I heard firing from the alleyway I saw in one of the windows I ran past. I noticed my legs were almost moving with a mind of their own. I was barely making a sound across the shattered glass and papers, and any rubble that was in my way I easily scaled over in split second jumps. I even instinctively jumped off a wall just to get over a broken couch and overturned vending machine. A newfound sense of power washed over me as I smiled a sharp and toothy grin, I was fast.

I found another door with a stair sign on it and kicked it open, not wanting to waste any time in opening it the right way. I started to run down the stairs. Annoyed at the slow progress I was making I punched out a window to see where I was. I only ran down seven floors! The gunshots were slowing down in their firing and my hope was beginning to fade in making contact with sentient creatures. My hopes were also more dashed when I heard a female's bloodcurdling scream. I needed a quicker way down.

I ran into the next floor, killing a few more of the... well the word zombies came into my head. It made sense to me. After running into a room I noticed I didn't hear a sound, not even gunfire. I jumped out the nearest window and landed on a fire escape. I then jumped off to a pipe I saw descending along the side of the building I jumped from. Before long I was on the ground and running along the pavement, using the walls to jump along and over cars, dumpsters and anything else in my way.

Then I came across the carnage. There was blood everywhere, along the walls, ground, windows... everything. Bullet casings rolled along the wet ground, moved by the water already there nad the blood leaking from everyone. There was a definite ring of bodies around one individual still alive. She was covered in blood, her white hair stained with specks of crimson. She was skinny, but not as pale as the rest of the bodies around her. She was cradling a person in her arms, who was still clutching a pistol in his dead hand. She was barely dressed, her t-shirt stained with blood and her panties soaking the blood that pooled around her from the body she was holding. She was crying her eyes out. Bullet holes scarred her body."Are you alright?" I asked her, fearing the answer.

She turned to look at me and then I saw the most horrifying and beautiful thing in my first hour of existence. Her face was cute or at least what my mind was interpreting as cute. Her eyes though were almost glowing red. Then I noticed her hands, they made my newfound claws seem like toothpicks. She then cried the words which circled in my mind.

"I killed them all!"

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There we go, hope you enjoyed. No the survivors from L4D 1 and 2 will NOT be showing up. In case if you haven't noticed, this takes place in Canada. Hope you enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed writing it!