Left 4 Dead
100 words.
Chapter 1: Introduction/ Love
Star North looked at her phone waiting for it to ring. It was another normal day with her problems.
Except one thing.
The green flu. An epidemic of odd proportions. It was something like a love child between the red plague, swine flu, and yellow fever or rabies. One good bite, that's all it would need. One good bite and if your system wasn't good enough to make you immune, you became the infected. A carrier, another walking death machine.
So far, by reports made on YouTube and Facebook, over 40% of the world had already put out red alerts, 70% of the world was experiencing the earlier phases, and 100% of the planet had been touched by this "side-effect" of mass proportions.
Star just snorted at what the TV called it. A side effect, even if it was an experimental cure for a deadlier illness, should not be anywhere close to what was being reported.
Rotten blood and bits of organ tissue being expelled by the victims, the intolerance to digest even the most simplest of foods or drink, spiking fevers and horrifying drops in temperatures, a change in behavior and mood, sudden death or death like sleep, and resurrection only to attack everything around you.
The last part had made her blood run cold. She knew she shouldn't jump to any conclusion but the recently dead people jumping up and chewing on the living scared her into agreeing with the rednecks in "lock and load mode". But she was much more or a calmer person, so she had taken out a reasonable amount of her collage funds and begun to prepare for "doomsday" or "World War Z" as her friends coined it.
As she stared at the phone again she mentally went off her checklist.
She had a duffel bag and a backpack packed with living necessities. And if needed, four handguns and enough ammo to take down the Super Dome. She mentally went over the list of "safe" spots her friend, Anderson, had created in the next several cities. He told her; the hint was that all the doorknobs had purple handles. She wandered how much of his trust funds had he poured into this.
She also mentally went over what her friends Halie and her girlfriend Paris had taught her. She quickly looked at the custom knuckles set and prayed she would never have to use the information.
Her phone rang finally as it shown the number of her boyfriend. She quickly answered it.
"Where the hell are you?"
A deep but oddly light octave voice huffed over the phone for a few minutes, causing her to grind her teeth and tears to pool in her eyes.
"So you're going to laugh at me? You think it's funny!"
"No…no. Please don't cry. Stella, baby. I'm sorry."
"Where are you? I'm here waiting for at least half an hour, you know we have to visit Dolly and Teddy before they go."
"I know Stella, I just had to deal with my parents."
Star nodded her head, clearing her mind as her gaze landed on an old photo of the gang.
In the photo was herself, her friend Halie and Paris, Anderson, Her boyfriend Wolfee, her almost twin Leselie, the two boys that fought for hr attention Nathalie and Johanthan. Finally at the bottom was the two she wished was going on this wacky adventure. Athena and Victor.
She walked over to the photo touching it with trembling fingers. That was the year before Athena was diagnosed with liver cancer. That year they all had gotten their "other" names at a sappy camp. All of them going on Anderson's family money.
Tears wielded in her eyes as she looked at their embodied shirts. "Stella", "Halo", "Panda", "War Time", "Wool", "Mirage", "Nex", "Perrio", "Dolly", and "Teddy". That was the last time their whole group was together.
"STELLA! ARE YOU LISTENING?"
She blinked back into reality. "I'm sorry, I zoned out again. Just making sure our asses are covered on all sides."
A sigh and a light growl answered her. "I said I am outside you door babe."
Star ran to the door and opened it to reveal her boyfriend in full height. She grabbed him and dragged him inside, chuckling lightly when he hit his head on a low hanging light.
"You got everything ready Stella?"
"Yes, do you?" She asked in response as she ran around turning off all the lights in the house.
"Stella?"
Star turned around to look at her boyfriend. Only 4 years her senior, he was a graceful and imposing figure. At 6'11' with dark hair, startling clear hazel eyes, lightly colored red-tan skin, and a penchant for wearing dark clothing that fell to his knees. Her eyes looked at the cigar in between his lips and frowned. Cigars meant he was worried about something.
"Yes, my Wolf?"
"Do you think Teddy is goning live through this?"
Her frowned deepened. When the news got out of the spreading mysterious virus known only as "the green flu", people took it as a joke. When Youtubers and Facebookers began posting what was really happening in the zones where the green flu was prominent, people got worried. When Myspacers, Youtubers, Facebookers, and any other mass communication site was reporting real statistics and had scientist reporting doomsday situations, people began to piss in their pants.
Problem? People thought that if their government was trying so hard to cover it up, then maybe there was a cure.
Star knew better than to wait for the "Red White and Blue" to come through. If the government couldn't secure the "important" people first than it was every man for themselves, and Star watched enough movies to know that they may have already passed that line.
Dolly was a permanent resident of the hospital, thanks to the liver cancer that appeared two years ago. Teddy was admitted into the hospital about two weeks ago. According to his mother, he suddenly developed a high fever that would not go down. He also looked like he was constantly swallowing something, a sign that Teddy was trying not to throw up. Star knew that this could mean that their friend could have the green flu, and that meant a possibility that their friend could "turn." But she was optimistic about the situation. After all, Teddy loved Dolly and he would go through any lengths, including making himself sick, to make sure he was by Dolly's side, always.
"I think he will make it. Personally I think he's faking it real hard this time so he will be sent to the same place where they're putting Dolly."
"I hope so."
Star gazed at her boyfriend and wondered what was wrong still. She walked up to him, looking smaller by the second with her 5'7" height.
"Wolfee, speak. What is wrong?"
He looked down, his hazel eyes shining with worry as he looked down at her.
"I'm scared Star. We're all split up."
She smiled and made a hand motion for him to crouch down. He plopped down on the floor curling into himself in a way only he knew, to look down at the floor. Star walked over to him and sat down by him, grabbing his hand and just tracing the knuckles first.
"You know I love you."
He sighed and smiled. "Love you too."
Star grabbed his hand tightly. "You know I would never leave you no matter what."
Wolfee frowned then. He tried to untangle his hand but Star had him in a vice like grip. He growled at her but her eyes held the steel of her spirit. He sighed again, mumbling something about needing the Jaws of Life before facing her. Their eyes locked for a time, both testing to see who was going to back down first. After about a minute he relented and looked away.
"Don't say that, you don't know what could happen."
"I know exactly what could happen. You know I wouldn't leave you."
"What if I become one of those things?"
"We'll find a cure."
He sighed. "Don't say horror movie no-no's."
Star raised one eyebrow in challenge and stood up, allowing her to be the taller on right that second.
"I said we would find a cure, even if it's only to bring back your sanity. In the meantime if you turn I will put a muzzle on you and lead you by a leash. Understand me Wolfee, I love you. I love you with all my heart, but I'll be damned if I leave you to become one of them. I have your heart, and you said your body belongs to me, so I should be the one who says when you can leave this world. If you have to be put down I will be the one who will pull the trigger. Got it? Now I only want complaints about sleeping arrangements and the lack of TV from now on."
A roar of laughter filled the darken house as her boyfriend laughed on the floor. When he was done he grabbed her hand and kissed her, his hazel eyes twinkling with light and mischief.
"I understand my Star. Now let's get going, we're already late as it is."
Star smiled as she grabbed his hand again, dragging him out the door on his ass.
Several weeks later.
Star looked down both ways of the street before she made a hand signal and her boyfriend appeared with a group behind them. "The group" as Star and Wolfee called them, was a bunch of people who was until recently, were wondering around in shell shock. All the things that were useful on them were their odd skills in running and hiding. Wolfee asked if they could dump them but Star would not have any of it. She didn't trust the people but she wasn't adding to the population of the undead by leaving happy meals.
So there they were, staring outside the doors of a building across the street from the safe house.
The problem was the Tank.
"What are we going to do Ms. Stella? There is a freak between us and safety."
Star rolled her eyes at the lawyer. He had introduced himself to her at least three times, but she always called him "Janus" for his two timing behavior.
"I'm thinking Janus. Unless you have an idea, shut up."
Wolfee looked at his girlfriend in worry. He knew that twinkle in her eyes. The look their old friend had called her "Battle Royal"- glare, based on his favorite manga.
"Please tell me we are not going to do anything stupid Stella."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because I know those eyes! Those eyes usually end up with you or me hurt!"
"Shush. You're being too loud."
Suddenly, she licked her lips with a hunter's glint in her eyes. She pulled out a notebook, in which she was collecting all the information from the safe houses, flicking through them with a purpose. Her smile lit up when she found a certain page.
"Hey guys. Do any of you own an old fashion frying pan?"
Several of the group looked at her like she had grown an extra head. A young ditzy woman, whom Star named Barbie due to the likeness, had gone into her bag and pulled out an old and slightly banged up frying pan. Star grabbed the pan with a certain look in her eyes. That look always meant trouble for someone. Wolfee wanted to have a heart attack when the plan was laid out.
"You want to what!"
Star, Wolfee's girlfriend and probably common law wife, gave him a look before flipping through her notes, showing him a picture of a Tank.
"The Tank mutation has a big weakness. Somehow its skull is weaker in the back then in the front. A smack in the back with, let's say this, will be an instant kill."
"Okay, but why are you the flying fucking squirrel in this fucked up plan?"
She just huffed off. Looking at "the group" with her evil eye stare. None of them wanted to do it, of course.
"Why doesn't he do it?"
They both stared at the lawyer. Wolfee struggled to remember that his name was McCormack, but both of them looked at him like he was a little snake. Stella decided to happily reprimand Janus.
"But he's capable! He knows his way around these things!"
"Which is why he needs to stay here. There is a chance I may be put out of commission once I do this and you need someone who knows a thing or two to help you."
"We do know how to survive Ms. Stella."
"No. What you know to do is getting everyone else killed. All I'm asking is a simple jog and a yell. Tanks are dumb. It will take a minute for it to realize that you are there. A minute is all we need."
All of them looked at each other, then back at Stella. Wolfee swore to himself that all of the group would need being raped by a Smoker to get the point across.
"Why don't one of us hit 'im with the pan while you scream and holler?"
The woman that spoke was named Doris, but due to her brainlessness and her not so secret "dislike" of Mexican people and Spanish speaking people in general, so they called her Dora. Most of the group knew how the two thought of her.
Star turned to answer the woman, but before she could respond, one of "the group"
Just got tired and tried to shoot.
Stupid Move.
It was an all scramble to get out of the way of the Tank, but it ended with two things happening.
Stella managed to bash the brains out of the Tank.
Wolfee got bit.
And now they were in the safe rom. "The group" looking, with a mix of shame and satisfaction, at the crying young woman and the dying young man.