Hey everyone, this is Indigo Werewolf with the first chapter of my second story, Old Friends, New Tricks, and I do not own L4D, Zoey, Bill, Francis, or Louis, or any of the Infected types in this story. Let's get on with the story, shall we?

I panted as I ran down the street with a horde of normal Infected chasing me. Running by my side are my teammates in the apocalypse, Bill the chain-smoking elderly veteran, Francis the complaining tattooed biker, and Louis the bald African-American desk jockey.

Then there was yours truly, an anthro college catgirl with brunette hair tied in a ponytail and a red jacket. Yes I'm a catgirl, no it's not because of the Green Flu. I was born like this, with large feline ears perched on the top of my head, icy blue eyes with slitted pupils, dull claws in the place of fingernails, overgrown canines on my top and bottom jaw, and a long, prehensile tail covered in fur the same color as my hair. None of the others are anthro, so I was the only one in the group along with being the only female. We were a mismatched crew, but that doesn't mean we don't get along. "God fucking dammit, Francis, next time you want to commit suicide by horde, get away from us first!"

Most of the time. That outburst was uttered by Bill as he shot his Assault Rifle wildly into the horde behind us in an attempt to thin their numbers. "Well, next time I'll just ask my shot to miss what's right in front of it, how's that sound Bill?"

That one was from Francis. Let me explain what happened. We were walking through a neighborhood somewhere in Florida when a Common burst out of the window of the car it was trapped in and startled Francis, who immediately shot it with his Auto-Shotgun and set off the car alarm, which in turn attracted even more of the bastards.

"Both of you shut up and shoot!" Good old Louis, the voice of reason in the group and pretty much the only one who could get Francis and Bill to stop arguing.

Speaking of them, they both looked over their shoulders and started unloading their guns into the mass of zombies. Louis, having said his piece, did the same with his Uzi. I didn't follow their lead because A) I only have one spare clip, and B) Both my M1991s are half-empty.

With the three of them, it didn't take long for the thirty-odd zombies to fall. Once they had, we all slowed and stopped until we all stood panting standing in the middle of the street with our hands on our respective knees. Once we had all caught our breath, we sat down and started talking about what to do next.

"We need to find a place to hunker down for the night, it's almost dark and I don't want to get caught unawares." Bill voiced in with his opinion, but of course Francis opposed it. "There isn't a safe house for miles Bill, it's not safe." "Well we can't just keep going without a break, we'll collapse!" Bill argued. "Bill's right Francis, if we don't get some shuteye soon we'll be sitting ducks." I interjected.

Seeing Francis open his mouth, Louis cut in and said, "Francis, you're as tired as the rest of us and adrenaline doesn't last forever, so if we don't rest we're all fucked." Seeing that he was outnumbered, Francis glared at each of us in turn and grumbled, "I hate it when you all gang up on me like that."

Grinning at Francis' catchphrase, I got up and dusted my pants off. Once the other three had all done the same, we continued down the street in search of a place to lay our heads down for the night. After walking for another fifteen minutes, my sensitive ears picked up the sound of sobbing, a sound that we all knew far too well.

"Fuck, it's a Witch, kill your lights." I whispered, and we all turned out our flashlights, the darkness not making much difference to me. Bill turned around to face the three of us and asked in a hushed voice, "How's your ammo?"

"Two shells." Francis reported. "Empty." Louis said dejectedly. "Two half-empty clips and one spare." I told him.

Bill checked his own clip, sighed and said, "Empty." With that, he threw his gun down and pulled out the machete on his hip. My tail twitched in annoyance as I realized the situation were in. A Witch was one of the toughest Infected we knew, even worse than a Tank, being able to gut us in a second and needing an army's worth of ammo to kill. "So we're fucked?" I asked, voicing what we were all thinking. "Not quite." Francis said with a tone that suggested he had a plan.

"What is it?" Louis asked, throwing down his own firearm and taking out a cricket bat he had picked up from the last safe house. "You know those messages people write on the walls in safe houses? I saw one once that said you can take down a Witch with one shot." Francis whispered.

"Are you crazy, Francis? If Witches are that easy to kill, how come we almost die every time we see one?" Bill snapped back. "You have to sneak up on them and blast them with a shotgun in a certain spot in the back of their heads, where the skull meets the spine. It's called 'Crowning'." Francis told him.

We all took a moment to contemplate what Francis had just said. Louis looked at us all as if we were nuts and said, "Are we seriously considering this? This is suicide, man. Let's just walk around it."

"No, if we walk around it we'll just end up startling it later when we attract another horde. And with how many abandoned cars are around here, it'll be almost impossible not to bring another one." Bill argued back at him, then continued, "This is our only chance. Francis, give Zoey your gun." Francis shoved his Auto into my hands, making me drop my M1911s. "Why me?" I hissed at Bill.

"Because you're the lightest so you have the best chance of sneaking up on that thing." Bill told me. I paused as I realized the sense in his words, then I huffed and cocked the gun then said, "Be right back."

Louis picked up my pistols and told me, "I'll hold these for you." I smiled at him, silently thanking him, and set off.

So just like that, I'm on a Witch hunt. I followed the sounds of crying to see the albino zombie around the corner about twenty feet from me. I ducked down behind a hedge and examined it through the leaves. It was sitting prone with its head in its hands, with blood on its razor-sharp claws like any other, but what struck me as odd was that it was an anthro catgirl, like me, which none of us had encountered before.

Also unlike most other Witches, it was surrounded by corpses, some of which looked like various Infected. I saw a splayed out slender form with a long rope-like tongue with its torso cut open. 'A Smoker?' I thought.

I looked around some more and saw another body that was missing its bottom half, wearing a dark blue hoody with duct tape on the wrists and sharp claws on the ends of its fingers. 'And a Hunter.'

Looking to the left of the dead Hunter, I also saw an overweight corpse that was only a pair of legs that ended at the waist, with the end shredded as if blown up with dynamite. 'A Boomer too? What the fuck? Infected don't attack each other, do they?'

I was interrupted from my thoughts by the Witch shrieking, signifying it had been startled by something. Thinking it saw me, I tensed my legs and prepared to jump out. It would appear that I was not its target however, as I could see that a Common had stumbled into it and was the source of its aggression. The Witch shoved the weaker Infected off of it and started tearing into it with her claws, not stopping until it had been literally torn limb from limb, adding a fresh layer of blood and gore to the Witch's claws.

Once it had calmed down, the Witch collapsed down and started sobbing anew with its back to me. I tentatively stood up and took my shoes off, leaving my socks on in order to muffle my footsteps. I snuck over to where the Witch was lying on its knees and brought my gun up to take the shot. I lined up the sights with the spot Francis had told me about, but just as I was about to pull the trigger, the Witch turned its head up to me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and froze, expecting to die painfully. When I didn't feel any pain, I opened my eyes to see that the Witch had stood up and was facing me, crying softly with a depressed look on its face and tears running down its face. I slowly lowered my shotgun in shock that I was still alive.

While I waited for her to strike, I inspected the Infected woman closer. She looked to be about 19, with violet eyes and slitted pupils, the little sclera that showed red from crying for so long. Like me, her ears were feline and perched on her head, but comparatively were a bit smaller than my own. She was wearing black undergarments, setting her further apart from other Witches. During my inspection, I saw something on the Witch's wrist that caught my eye.

Gently, so as not to alert the pale woman, I gently grabbed the Witch's hand, (avoiding the claws) and looked at her face to gauge her reaction. The Infected woman smiled at me sadly and nodded, shocking me. Once I got over my surprise, I brought her hand up so I could see her wrist. I gasped as I saw the bracelet that adorned her arm, a simple leather band with a small light pink crescent moon on it made of seashell.

I slowly lifted my head to look at the Witch's face. She was still wearing the same sad grin on her face, and as she reached for my forehead I flinched but didn't stop her. She felt the hairclip on the left side of my head that kept my hair out of my face and took it out and held it in her palm. It was a similar charm to hers, the only difference between the two being that the clip and charm on mine were both made of silver.

Tears overtook her again as she grabbed me in a hug, squeezing me tight and sobbing once more, with more intensity than the monotonous cries she had been emitting before. I wrapped my arms around her in return and our tails intertwined as they had a hundred times before. "Z-Zo-Zo-ey," she croaked out hoarsely, almost questioning me, seeking to confirm it. I pulled back from the hug so we were face to face and our hands were on each other's elbows, her being mindful of her claws, and whispered, "Ashley."

And I'll end it there. Sorry, but the cliffhanger is just too good and I think this is a good first chapter, so review, and remember, flames startle the Witch.