While playing Dead Center, I came up with this. Nick is stuck with three people he doesn't like. But I guess he will have to live with it.


Dead Center.

This was not happening.

"Hey! Come back! Come back!" The fat man yelled, as if the pilot would hear him over the loud reeling of the chopper blades 70 feet away. The woman nearly threw her gun at it, then though about what we had to fight through just to get up those damn stairs.

The boy was already looking at the pile of useless crap on that old metal table. We didn't need guns or health, we needed a way out of here. Sadly our way out of here left faster then the fat mans voice could carry through the air. But what the hell? Might as well grab something for the trip down...

The Redneck grinned at me as I moved past him, frowning just slightly when he saw that I wasn't going to return the happiness. He had enough for the four of us, I don't know why I was required to return it, so I won't.

"Okay, well, I don't like fire, I hate hotels, and I don't like navigating through them. So the faster we go the faster we leave." I pushed past the small woman as she scoffed and looked back at the fading helicopter. I began my decent of the stairs as the smell of sulfur made my nose tingle. The Hick followed with a youthful pace, almost making me wish I wasn't 35, these stairs wouldn't be so damn difficult.

He nearly bumped into me with his hast, pulling his hat a little tighter to his head. "Slow down kid sheesh". I walked a little slower, blocking the stair case like a car trying to block both lanes. The Hick tried to slow down, but his big clumsy feet pushed him forward, right into me. We both fell a good five feet.

"Jesus kid, where not racing!" I jabbed him in the arm with the muzzle of my pistol, which in retrospect wasn't real smart unless my intention was to blow his arm off. The woman rolled her eyes and pushed past us both, followed by the man. I didn't care though. If those things were still down there, I didn't want to open the blue door anyway.

The kid grew rigid as I briskly brushed him off and followed his "friends". He hadn't talked in nearly an hour, mostly due to me snapping at him on the way up here. I must have scared him or something, because he seemed to be try to get to my good side. Fat chance kid.

The woman looked at me quickly, looking for the OK to open the door, then shifted her eyes to the fat man, as if my opinion didn't matter. The man nodded and she heaved the door open, jumping back as if the door handle was suddenly going to bite her. Which it may have if one of those monsters was at the end of it. The first few came hurdling at us like a hungry dog after its dinner. The fat man shot the first one, setting the mood for the rest, since they had all heard the shot. The kid stood idly by until he had a clear spot next to me. Didn't want to get shot I guess.

"Watch where your walking Overalls." I huffed as two...hell, zombies fell before the door. I didn't say it nicely, but I didn't yell, which was enough for him to lighten up a bit. The fat man gave me a quick look over, then led the way through the hall.

"The buildin's comin' down quick. Our best chance is to get to duh bottom floor and get out."

Thanks. Great plan. Couldn't have come up with a better one myself.

The kid suddenly brightened up even more, looking like the friggen sun as an idea popped into his hat covered head. " We coul' take the elevator."

We all stared at him for a second, and I was the only one to open my mouth. I had the best insult planned, and the woman ruined it.

"Sweety, the building's on fire. I don't think the elevators will be working." She was bordering a humorous laugh, but just shot me an indignant look as I placed my hands on my hips.

"You interrupted me lady."

"I didn't hear you talking first." She lightly back-handed my upper arm, walking back to the older man who didn't feel like cutting in at any point. I looked back at the boy with a scowl, but he had that stupid, innocent, goofy, dumb look on his face that made me silently threaten to hit him. And I would have had that stupid laughing not cut into my train of thought.

The boy stopped and grew rigid. The man and woman both looked overly bewildered at the manic giggling that grew louder, making me want to shove my pistol into my ear. Again, in retrospect, that was stupid.

The woman let out a small squeal as a short little man burst past the hotel room door and came bouncing toward the large man. With an excited shriek the creature lunged, but the man moved out of the way, knocking his gun into the mutation's arm. It now went for the Hick behind me, and I suddenly found myself pushing the boy out of the way. My balance wavered and I fell backwards, narrowly missing the Freaks long arms as it made a frantic lunge for my shoulders.

"Holy Shit!" The woman exclaimed, firing her pistol but missing every shot. The infected man turned back to me, giggling hysterically as I quickly got to my feet. Before I could move a second time, the long arms wrapped around my arms in a frenzied excitement, leading me roughly towards the window.

"Shoot it!" The boy yelled, but no shots went off. The creature was yanked from shoulders and thrown across the hall. The big man gave me another look over, but finally the guns went off, forcing the creature back with each shot that landed in its chest. It finally fell limp, arms flailed and large jaw still open in a silent giggle.

I leaned over, hands on my knees as the scratches on my chest and shoulders finally registered. With a final inhale of breath, I straightened up, brushing off the boy as he tried to see what injuries I had gotten.

"You alright?" The large man asked, and I simply walked past him. He didn't seem overly concerned like the boy. It was just a scratch. I continued down the hall, seeing the elevator and almost considered what the Hick had said. I bumped my fist against it, hearing the hollow sound that vibrated through it like a Chinese gong.

"There's no elevator in here." I pointed out to the woman as she moved over to see what I was doing. "It must have been taken to a lower floor."

"I though' ya said we couldn' take the el'vator?" The boy asked, almost hurt. I just shrugged my shoulders and turned down the hall, seeing that most of it was cut off by the fire. No problem though, there was another door. The woman made a move to continue into the maintenance room, but was nearly blown back as the light fixture suddenly burst, blowing the wall in.

I simply walked past it, followed closely by the kid into the maintenance room. The loud growling of the flames made me stop just short of the window, and I peaked around the corner. Several Zombies staggered across the ledge that bordered the windows, but not seemed to notice me. The woman placed a hand on my lower arm in an attempt to see around me, and I pulled back at the contact. Lining up my pistol, I shot down three, the other two carelessly fell over the edge without so much as a small grunt.

The flames in the nearest room made me cringe back away from the heat. A few zombies turned to run at us, but were soon on fire as they paid no attention to how close they were to the flames. I sighed and stepped onto the ledge, trying to forget my fear of heights. The woman was still too close, nearly bumping into me when I stopped.

"Hey, wouldn' it be funny if this ledge crumbled?" The boy called as he stepped out, shrinking back again under my steely gaze.

"No, it would not be funny." I snapped, rolling my eyes and continued forward. I slammed my gun against the first window, shattering the glass. I stepped over the broken glass and let out a sigh of relief to be surrounded by four walls. The fire next in the other room was burning through the door that separated the two rooms. I moved to the front door and slowly opened it, peeking around it for any Zombies. The fire continued to burn to my left, and made my skin burn. I briskly walked down the hall, not paying any attention to the three people behind me. The woman complained but didn't do anything to slow me down. The man tried to catch up, but I would just go faster.

The door to the fire escape was left open, and quickly jumped them two at a time. The underside was also on fire, and had heated up the railing, burning my palm. With a small hiss I let go, jumping the last four as the man painfully walked down one-by-one. What had he said? He had a bad knee? I didn't know.

"Hey, Suit, slow down." The woman stood to wait for the other two as I already stood at the bottom door. "Your going to fast."

"Not my problem." But I still stood impatiently for a moment, returning the cold glare I got from the woman. When all three pairs of feet had made it to the bottom, I walked back out, shooting a few Zombies that turned around in surprise.

"You sure don't seem mind shooting them." The woman pointed out, the man and the boy just followed us quietly.

"Self-defense Sweetheart."

"Yeah, I hope so."

I didn't bother to search the rooms, I was to tired and I hated this fire. As I past the 70th Damn Door of the Day, I could just hear the flames beating against it, and I watched the boy closely to be sure he didn't open it.

The hall opened up into a lobby, the fire closed of the second hallway and burned bodies littered in front of it. I moved to the coffee table in the center of the room, a map spread across the top and had scribbled writing written across. New Orleans was circled several times over. Most of the eastern stated were cross out underneath a coffee stain. The boy moved to my side and smiled at me with that stupid grin. This time he didn't frown when I just walked away, he just followed.

Seeing the second elevator, I was nearly ready to beat my fist against it again, but the woman grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"Would'ya stop grabbing me?" I pulled my arm out of her grasp and moved away, freezing when I heard what she was trying to warn me about. A deep gurgling echoed through the elevator door, and I was tempted to just shoot through the metal. The gurgling became a deep rumbling growl.

"What the hell?" The man pushed the button that opened the elevator and jumped back as an even fatter man waddled into the lobby. Boils covered his body as he rather slowly tried to get close enough to one of us, but we had all spread out in a wide circle. With a gurgled burp he lunged at the man, leaning his head back, and a green wall of vomit just barely missed the man's arm.

"The fuck is this thing!" The boy moved up behind it and shoved it away and down burning hall. The Infected's hand caught fire, and with a shriek it moved back out. The boy shot at it twice, careful to stay out range. The final shot hit the Zombie in the head, and the huge body suddenly exploded in a sheet of blood, flesh, and green goo. The boy was knocked back and nearly fell to the ground.

We all went silent for a minute or two, just staring at the lower half of the Infected that had gone still after rolling a few feet. With a shake of my head, I simply turned to the open elevator, and climbed in. I was about to press the down button before the others could get in, but I caught myself and waited. Once they all stood shoulder to shoulder, I pressed the button and the doors closed smoothly. The elevator music began to play, and I really wished I couldn't hear the tacky melody it played. I followed the wall and stood in the back as the man looked at me again, the same look on his face.

"Man, if that wasn' crazy, I don't know what is. All these Zombies and shit. Shit, shit, shit." That was the most I had heard the Hick say since the helicopter left.

"Calm down son. What's yer name?"

"Mah names Ellis. My friends call me 'El' but I prefer Ellis 'cuz 'El' sounds like a girls name."

"Names Rochelle, and you?"

"Mah friends call me Coach. I guess y'all can do the same."

They all looked back at me, expecting me to tell them like we were new buddies. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door now that the floor number was nearing "L".

"Nick." I mumbled, and I was a little surprised Rochelle had heard it.

"Short for Nicholas?" She had a warm smile, clearly trying to get me to follow her.

"Yes, but don't call me that. It's Nick." Her smile faded somewhat at the harshness that entered my voice. I hated Nicholas. It was Nick, and Nick only. The elevator came to a rough stop, the ding signaled its stop. "Okay, well, this is gonna be loud."

Ellis chuckled and got to close to my shoulder. The kid was a good three inches shorter then me, but wasn't actually "short". Rochelle was short. Coach was taller then me.

For some reason the older man's height bothered me. So I made a point not to look at him.

I looked at the woman instead for the OK to open the door. Why was I getting her approval? I don't need these people. I'll open the door if I want. I turned away from her before she could do anything, and pried the doors open. The loud ringing made me shrink back quickly. Feeling mt ears ring painfully. The Coach moved past me and led the way, which I silently cursed under my breath. I wasn't going to be part of this group for long, I didn't need someone leading me like we were ducks in a line.

I sped up to get in front of him, when the loud roar suddenly made Ellis curse quiet loudly. The roar was nothing like the fire. It was made with a human throat. A few Infected came running from the flames, the thick smoke clouded my eyes, and struggled to see what was where. Seeing that the Zombies were coming from the same direction, I began to fire my pistol.

Most of them ran right into the fire, almost as if they thought they were invincible Pistols weren't my favorite weapon. They didn't have the power of a shot gun. But they bit through the Zombies anyway. With many burning and the others full of lead, I moved in front of Coach and struggled through the smoke filled building.

I squinted my eyes and found the path through, hell, what was this a kitchen? The stainless steal tables were nearly glowing orange from the heat of the surrounding flames, adding to the visibility problem. I made the mistake of getting to close, and my already burned hand bumped the damn table.

"Ah, shit!" I pulled my hand away and waved it in the air to cool the burn down. Which didn't really work since it was 108 degrees in here anyway. Rochelle moved to grab my wrist, asking me if I was okay.

"I'm fine. I told you not to touch me." She recoiled her hand and Coach looked about ready to defend her. But he could find no words and simply fell in line behind me. He could lead the other two, but I only needed myself to get through this. I didn't need this extra work. I navigated my way through another maze of heated tables as the flames seemed to close in. Ellis stayed close to my side and I made a point of making him work for the place. I walked even faster and walked back and forth. He seemed to catch on and fell in next to Coach. He stopped to search a fallen cabinet, and exclaimed happily that he had found something. I didn't know what it was but he seemed happy.

The flames finally stopped at the opening of another lobby. Ellis pulled the white object off his overalls and clicked the red button on the side. He stuck the fuse against the flames and ran ahead of me. With a well aimed throw, the white object sailed into the lobby. At least 40 Infected turned to look at the red light that blinked along with a shrill beeping. They chased it down as it bounced across the floor. The beeping became more rapid as the horde gathered around it an attempt to get a hold of it.

All three of us flinched back when the bomb exploded. The infected exploded into a cloud of blood and body parts. Ellis clapped his hands together approvingly and led the way to the red door.

Dammit, slow down.


For now this is going to cover all of Dead Center, all the way to the Mall Atrium. I may do the rest of the game, but probably after I finish Of Tanks and Hunters. I did my best in keeping them in character.