THE MOST UNLIKELY OF FRIENDS

Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead

I flinched as thunder boomed outside. But it was not the thunder I was afraid of. It was the silhouette illuminated in the lightning. The figure stood with broad shoulders at at least 6' in height. From my position on the floor I could see his companion shutting the door.

"Now what do we have here?" asked the big one, sending a chill through my spine.

"Looks like a little thief to me boss." Said the other, smiling a crooked grin, most of his teeth now missing.

The second one was much shorter, around 5'4" or somewhere in that area. The larger had breath that smelled strongly of cigarettes and alcohol, even at this time after the outbreak.

The larger of the two walked towards me, making me to crush myself even closer to the wall that I had my back to.

"No one steals from us and gets away from us that easy." Said the large one, his breath attacking my airspace.

"Look, I'm sorry, it was one can of beans. I'll give it back, just let me go." I pleaded, but the evil look in his eye told me I wasn't going to get out of this without a scratch.

"Little girl, it doesn't work that way anymore." He said, bringing a knife up to my throat and putting on just enough pressure to get his point across.

"Now what's gonna happen, is that I'm going to…" Before he could finish, a bloodcurdling scream was heard outside.

"One of those hunters ain't it Jeff?" Asked the smaller, "Yeah, prolly, don't worry about it." replied "Jeff".

But just as he turned to face me, the door exploded into a shower of splinters. And what followed was just as shocking. The Hunter we had heard came barreling in through the wreckage, plowing into the smaller of my attackers. They landed with the hunter on top, straddling him as he began to tear into him with his mutated hands which had grown claws thanks to the green flu epidemic.

The larger of my attackers sprinted to aid his companion, retrieving a baseball bat from off of the kitchen floor of the house I had run to. But as he brought the bat down towards its head he swiftly moved up an arm and caught the bat with a crippling force, stronger than that of any normal human. He ripped the bat from the grip of Jeff and used it to sweep his legs out from under him, his body hitting the tile floor, but thank god he broke his fall with his skull.

Rising from the floor, the hunter smashed his foot into the back of Jeff's neck, snapping it on impact. I feared I would be next in line. He turned to face me, but his next move was not the expected pounce and grab move, in fact I'd never seen a hunter kill a human and leave it without at least using his claws once. His next move was definitely a surprise. He reached up to grab the sides of his hood, and pulled it up and over his head.

From my still frozen position on the wall, I swear that my jaw may have literally hit the floor. Other than a slight grey tint to his skin, the claws, and the strange golden irises he had been given, he looked like a regular college boy who had just gotten out of bed. His messy brown hair and chiseled facial features would have placed him as an attractive boy too.

He approached me slowly, and even with his appearance I curled

myself into an even tighter ball if that was even possible. I couldn't reach my sidearm, which had been taken from me. So I could only wait for evident demise. I wish I could say that I got up and fought, but that isn't how this went. A tear fell down my cheek, and a sob escaped my lips. At this the hunter stopped his advance and continued to look at me. His lips moved as if trying to find a way to speak but he simply couldn't.

"Nnnnnnnnnn" Was the only thing he could get out, he focused for a moment and tried again this time forming something that could be made out.

"Nnnnnnoooooottttttt lllllliiiiiikkkkeee ooottthhheerrrs." He said, looking proud of himself.

He then looked at me and smiled at me, I was kind of conflicted on how to feel I was certainly comforted by him speaking, if not slightly disturbed, but the blood coating his sharp pointed teeth didn't ease the feeling of fear inside me.

Seeing my scared look he sat down, cross legged, right in front of me. I could see his navy blue, faded hoodie that he wore on top of the brown cargo pants that complimented the feel of the world now, dark, dull, and lifeless.

I loosened up and sat back again the wall and sighed. I looked back at him, he was still staring at me, his golden pools never lingering anywhere but my face. I thought of a few questions I could ask this domestic infected that sparked my interest. So I sat up and began to ask.

"Do you know any others like you?" I asked, because if he did, I had never seen them.

He seemed to consider this for a moment before slowly nodding his head, then looking back and giving an affirmative nod.

"Really? What kind are they?" I asked, intrigued by this whole new sub-species of infected that were docile. Well, I thought while looking at the corpses only a few feet away, almost docile.

He seemed very confused by my question, he looked at me and kind of did the half cocked puppy head thing and lulled his head to the side.

It was probably the funniest thing I'd seen since the world went to crap. I started giggling, thus making him cock his head to the side even farther, now I was outright laughing. He too, began doing a little laugh, but it wasn't rough or raspy like his voice, it rolled right off his tongue ever so naturally. I then regained my ability to speak.

"What's with the little head cock thing?" I asked, still giggling a little.

He then cocked his head to the side and yet again looked confused.

"That, that right there, are you like, confused when you do that." I kind of already knew the answer but I still had to be sure.

He nodded.

"Well," I asked, "what are you confused about when I asked about your friends?"

He seemed to think, tapping his claws on his chin, then he attempted to speak.

"Wwwhhhhaaatt ttyyypppe?" He said.

"Oh, you don't know what they're called." I presumed, "Well, what do your friends do?" I asked.

He shook his head and held up one finger.

"Only one friend?" I guessed

He nodded again. I was good at this, I should challenge someone to charades after this.

He then stuck out his tongue.

"Uh, does he have a really long tongue?" I asked.

And again he nodded

"Oh, we call those smokers," I stated, "and you, we call you hunters." I said.

I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to understand. I tried to get his mind off of it.

"Do you have a name?" I asked, legitimately wondering the answer.

He vigorously nodded and smiled, "Naaame Lazarus." He proudly stated, smile growing ever larger.

"huh, fitting name, I'm gonna call you Laz, for short." I said.

He smiled even bigger, if that was even possible.

"Laz," I said, "consider your friend pool to be plus one from now on buddy" I said, at this he jumped up from his sitting position, I standing along with him, he then hugged me in a grip like a vice, so tight I couldn't get away. I'm pretty sure if he'd hugged me any longer I'd've snapped a rib.

This whole apocalypse thing just got a whole lot more interesting.