Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2

I was so tired. Tired of running, tired of being chased, and tired of being alone. It's been a while since I've actually been able to rest. I really haven't gotten a break from being chased though. And human interaction was like buried treasure, except I had no map.

I had no idea where I was, what day it was, or what I was even doing. I had lost track of everything—I was just so tired and exhausted; I didn't find a need for remembering.

I ran down the streets of this unknown city. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was gasping for breath. My muscles were burning as I pushed myself harder. 'Just a little farther,' I told myself, 'then you can rest.' I ran past abandoned cars, trashed houses that were falling apart, and the disgusting trash and piles of dead bodies that littered the silent, dead streets. The air was dry and hot, making it harder to breathe, plus the disgusting stale stench that hung in the air made me sick. Sweat dripped down my face and back. My throat burned, begging for water. I tried to find a safe location to stop, but honestly, nothing looked safe.

I heard the unmistakable laugh of a Jockey echo off the vacant houses and down the dreary street. I quickly bolted into an abandoned house, hoping the Jockey wouldn't find me.

I looked around the house and saw a pile of dead bodies thrown in the corner. I quickly looked away; it truly was a revolting sight, but it was sadly becoming common and something I had to get used to. I slowly checked the bottom floor for any signs of zombies or anything useful. I quickly spied two half-empty water bottles and instantly grabbed them. I swiftly took off my backpack and placed the bottles inside, ignoring the scream of protest coming from my throat.

I put my backpack back on as I continued to explore the house. I finally saw that the bottom floor was clear and cautiously made my way up the stairs. I checked the top floor and found a small box of ammunition that would work for the automatic I used. I heard the Jockey's laugh again coming through the broken window. I crouched down and went to carefully look out the window. I looked down to see the Jockey meandering down the streets. I debated on whether I should shoot at it or not. I looked around a little more to see if I spied anymore Infected that would be startled by my gun shots. I didn't see any so I quickly took aim and shot at the Jockey, killing it instantly.

I turned away from the window and leaned against the wall, letting out a sigh. I looked around the room I was in and for the first time noticed the bed. The mattress was half pushed off the box spring and the sheets were crumpled and wrinkled, but it looked fairly clean. I debated in my head. It was about noon time and I was exhausted. I knew that I shouldn't just lie down and go to sleep—that would make me an open target for every Infected in the area—but I was so tired. I honestly didn't care, the bed looked so inviting and I knew that if I didn't get any sleep soon, I would collapse.

I walked over to the bed and straightened it a bit, putting the mattress back on and spreading out the sheets. I took off my backpack and laid my gun and baseball bat next to me. I had learned that that was the easiest way to sleep. I sat on the bed and let out a content sigh, reveling in how comfortable it was to sit on something somewhat soft. I unzipped my backpack and took out the two water bottles and a small rations bag I had found earlier. I quickly gulped down the water. It had definitely been sitting for a while, but I honestly could care less, I was just thankful to find it. I ate my rations as well and once I had finished, I leaned back onto the bed. It felt so nice to just let my muscles relax and sink into the mattress. I used my backpack as my pillow and made sure to keep my weapons at my side. I tried to convince myself to stay awake as I felt my eyelids grow heavy. After a minute, I ended up convincing myself that I was allowed to rest for a few minutes. Before I knew it, the blissful peace of unconsciousness washed over me and pulled me under.

I had no idea how long I had slept but when I started awake, the sun was low in the sky. I mentally kicked myself for being so foolish and letting my guard down; something could've happened to me and I wouldn't be able to do much. I was quickly checking through my things when I heard the sound that had woke me up in the first place: gun shots. I froze as I listened closely, I definitely could hear gun shots and faint voices. Were there more survivors? Maybe it was CEDA actually coming to save me. I crouched down and looked out the window, trying to see where the noise was coming from. I looked out and could hear the voices a bit more clearly; it kind of sounded like someone was yelling at someone else to be quiet—how ironic. I couldn't actually tell how many people there were but it made hope blossom in my chest. People, safety, and company – one of the main things I longed for: to know I wasn't alone.

I was so excited about the idea of being rescued and still half delusional from sleep to think properly. I grabbed all my things and ran down the stairs towards the front door. I stepped outside and looked around, checking to see if there were any signs of Infected. I couldn't see any so I stepped outside and began walking towards the continuing gun shots and voices.

Something disgusting and slimy suddenly wrapped around my chest and pulled me back. At first I had no idea what was happening but I fell back and was dragged along the rough concrete. I let out a terrified scream. I twisted my body to look behind me and saw the mutated body of a Smoker standing on top of a roof of the building I just left. I thrashed around and tried to free myself but it was no use. I screamed out for help, hoping that whoever I heard could hear me and would come to my rescue.

The ragged and broken road tore at my shorts and exposed legs. It burned fiercely as my skin tore and I could feel the warm, sticky blood dripping down my legs. Writhing around did nothing to help, in fact, it probably made it worse. I didn't mean to make it worse, I knew better; I just panicked. I had learned early on not to panic and to avoid all these special infected zombies, but I guess I was just so startled and surprised that there were more people that I let it get the best of me.

I felt the tongue that wrapped around my torso go slack. I looked up to see a tall guy with slicked back dark brown hair. He was wearing what looked to be a very expensive, yet worn white suit that was stained over a button-down blue shirt. He was wielding a crowbar and had been hacking at the Smoker's tongue, chopping it off. More gun shots sounded as I spied a tall, sturdy African-American guy holding a shot gun and aiming at the Smoker that had turned his attention towards the guy who had chopped his tongue off. After a few more rounds, the Smoker fell down and let out a distorted gurgle as it died.

I saw two more people coming towards us. They were calling out to the two who had saved me. One was a black lady who was wearing a bright pink t-shirt with a Depeche Mode logo on it. Her blue jeans were dirty and her knee high brown boots were covered in dirt and grime. The other guy caught my eye immediately. He was wearing a pale yellow t-shirt with brown trimming and a Bull Shifters logo. A white and blue baseball cap with a tow truck logo covered his short brown hair. It looked like he was wearing a mechanic suit but the top half was tied around his waist. He ran up to me and the guy in the suit.

"Are you alright?" the guy in the yellow shirt asked. He had the prettiest pale blue eyes I'd ever seen. He had an accent like something you would hear in Georgia.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." The lady said something but I couldn't really hear her, but we all looked down the street to see a small horde of zombies coming towards us. The man with the blue eyes held out his hand to me and I accepted it. As I tried to stand I felt the scratches on my legs protest. I winced in pain and squeezed my eyes shut. The man looked at me, "Are you sure you're alright?"

The man in the suit looked at me and noticed my legs, "She needs a medi-kit. While that Smoker was dragging her, her legs got pretty torn up. We need to find a safer place, now!"

The guy in the suit waited for us as I was helped up. The man that I had seen shoot down the Smoker was leading us down the alley way. He was wearing a purple and gold polo shirt with the initials FHS on it. He looked kind of old—not as young as the rest of us—and kind of reminded me of my old high school coach. We made our way down the alley and into another abandoned house.

We all made it inside and they all began to barricade the door. I sat down on the old counter that was covered in dust and dirt. The lady finished helping and then made her way over to me. She took out a red bag that I had seen before. I had one as well and tried to protest and tell her that she didn't have to use their own packs because I had my own. She assured me it was fine as she began to fix me up. The guy in the suit and the coach looking guy went off to look around and left us alone. We were silent as she cleaned the wounds and wrapped them up.

"Would you like some pain pills?" he asked me. I nodded and gratefully accepted them.

"You know, this reminds me of this one time, me and my buddy Keith tried to roller skate behind a pickup truck. We had a rope tied to the back and it pulled us along, man, Keith ended up falling and-"

"Ellis, sweetie, this isn't really the best time. Can it wait?" she asked as she finished wrapping up my leg.

Ellis, so that was his name.

He just looked at us and shrugged his shoulders, unfazed, "Okay."

"There, all bandaged up. Try not to hurt yourself anymore," she smiled at me.

I blushed, still feeling embarrassed that I had reacted so rashly. "I'll try, but thank you."

"You're welcome; by the way, I'm Rochelle." She held out her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Ellis, pleased to meet ya ma'am." He smiled kindly and shook my hand firmly. I continued to blush, but smiled back.

"Lyla. Thanks again for saving me," I said.

"It's not us you should be thanking," Rochelle said.

The guy in the suit came back in, "What were you doing out there? Just carelessly strolling down the street? That's how that Smoker got you," he said rather harshly. He glared at me with angry green eyes. I looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed.

"Now Nick, you have no room to get on this poor girl's back about being caught off guard by a Smoker because you and I both know that you've been caught by more than one before.

Nick looked up to see the tall black guy walking back into the room as he finished reloading his shot gun.

Nick disregarded his other teammate's comment and glared at me one last time before turning away.

"Oh," Ellis interjected, "Nick, Coach, this is Lyla."

Nick ignored me but Coach smiled warmly, "Well glad you're still alive."

"Yes, thanks to you," I said gratefully.

"No problem. You startled us though. We didn't think that there as anybody else here."

"Yeah, well I honestly don't know where here is…"

"Louisiana," Nick said.

"Oh," I replied flatly. I was a long way from home, not that I really had one anymore though…

"There's nothing useful in this house, we should just keep going," Nick pointed out.

"But Lyla can't walk anywhere," Ellis said, gesturing at me.

"Who said she was coming with us?" Nick asked incredulously.

"We can't just leave her here," Rochelle interjected. "She wouldn't be able to protect herself very well."

I figured I could probably manage perfectly fine by myself, but I was surprised at how they jumped to the conclusion that I was coming with them. Yes, it's true that I was thankful for them saving me, but now that I knew they weren't CEDA, I was going to leave as soon as I could. I loved the fact that I had finally found more people, but I knew I couldn't stay. I felt torn: I was craving human interaction. I missed talking to people and being able to laugh and have conversations. Now that I had found this group, I didn't want to push them away or have them leave me, but I knew I had to be careful, especially because of last time.

I had met another girl awhile back, and I thought that we were becoming good friends. We made a great team and got along really well. Then one night, she took everything and left me defenseless against a zombie horde that she had alerted. I was terrified and didn't know if I would be able to escape. Thankfully I had, but it had been such a close call, way too close for comfort. I was lucky that I was able to find more supplies and that I made it this far.

I looked up as I watched Coach and Nick debating whether they should stay here. Rochelle stepped in and tried to convince Nick that it would probably be best if they stayed here tonight and rested. Ellis had kind of wondered off to look around. I listened to their conversation; maybe Nick was right. I didn't belong in their group; I would only slow them down. Plus, I know they didn't seem like it, but they could be just the same as Mindy. At first, I never would've thought that she would take everything and leave me. I know I didn't have much now, but everybody knows that everything is valuable and can be utilized. It would happen just like last time—they would take everything and run, leaving me alone and empty-handed.

My heart sank, I didn't want to believe it, but I knew it was true. I looked around then back at the arguing group; they wouldn't notice if I slipped away, then they wouldn't need to argue anymore. I quietly slipped my backpack on and slid off the counter. I winced at the sting on my bandaged legs; I really hope those pain pills kicked in soon. I made sure I had everything and went through a doorway that led to a dark hallway. I found my way to what was probably the back door. I silently opened it and ducked out, closing the door behind me. I turned my face up to look at the blood red sky. The sun was setting, turning the sky ablaze. The red mixed with deep oranges and stunning yellows. There weren't any clouds so the color just bled across the whole sky.

I turned away and sighed. My heart felt heavy, I didn't really want to do this but I knew it was for the best. I wouldn't feel betrayed and they wouldn't have to worry about me, it was a win-win scenario. Now the hard part, where would I go now? There had to be a place where CEDA was picking up survivors, right? I could try to find that place and then I could be safe, but is there really any place that's safe anymore? It's like no matter where you went, the infection had gotten everyone. Did that mean that CEDA was even looking for survivors? Was CEDA even around anymore or had the infection gotten the best of them as well?

"Where do ya think you're going?"

I jumped from the voice behind me. It had come out of nowhere and startled me. I turned around but didn't see anyone. Wait, what? I could've sworn I just heard Ellis.

"Up, here."

I turned and looked up to see Ellis sitting on the top of an old moving truck. He was looking down at me curiously. He got up and jumped down off the truck and made his way over to me.

"Ya know, you should be restin'. Ya got pretty scratched up back there," he said as he looked down at my bandaged legs.

"No, I'm fine," I lied.

He just looked at me for a second, "Ya sure?"

I turned away; I couldn't meet his eyes, "Yep."

"Well then, I'm glad you're feelin' better, but what are ya doing outside?"

"Well, I-" What did I say? I didn't want to lie to him, I couldn't. I thought about it for a second; I guess I could just tell him the truth.

"I'm leaving. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on your group. Thank you again for saving and healing me, but I think it's best if I just left." I looked up and met his blue eyes. The light hit them and reflected myself in his eyes. I couldn't look away; he held my gaze. I felt my heart skip a beat and something fluttered in my stomach. What was going on?

"But why do you have to leave?" He asked sadly. I felt my heart constrict as I saw the sad look on his face. I tried to look away but I couldn't. Now what? Where were all these feeling coming from?

"Because I-" I looked into his eyes again and saw just how miserable they looked. He seemed to be taking this really hard, but I couldn't fathom why. He barely knew me, could my leave actually affect him this greatly? I didn't want to say anything else that would upset him further, but what else could I say?

I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes again. "Because I feel like I don't belong with your group. I don't think I would be a very good contribution either; I would probably be more of a burden than anything," I said truthfully. I was finally able to tear my eyes away from him and looked down at the ground, sighing heavily. My voice came out as a soft whisper, "I really don't want to leave though… I'm just so tired and alone. When I heard you guys, I was surprised and somewhat happy to be honest. I miss people and at first I didn't know if I should trust you because of past experiences I've had, but right now, I'm just glad to have other people around me. I feel happy, safe, and truthfully, it's killing me to think about leaving."

What was I doing? My brain was screaming at me to shut up and to stop spilling out my guts but my heart told me to go on. It felt so good to talk to someone about how I felt and to get all of this off my chest, but what was so special about Ellis that made me tell him everything? I had to stop myself before I said anything else I would regret.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see him giving me a sympathetic smile, "But you're not alone, we're here. And you wouldn't be a burden. I haven't really known these guys for too long because we recently all just met but I can assure ya that they're good people and we've all got each other's back. You could join us, you wouldn't be a burden, I promise. Just please don't go. You're hurt and I don't want nothin' else happenin' to ya, got it?"

His eyes stared deeply into mine and I could feel the truth behind his comforting words. My heart was beating quickly and the fluttering in my stomach only got worse. Maybe he was right. Maybe I could trust these guys. My brain was yelling at me again but my heart told it to shut up and told me not to listen to it, but to listen to Ellis instead. I hesitated. Maybe I should think about it a little more before I rushed into things, but there was a feeling in my gut that told me to respond now.

I nodded, "Alright, fine. I'll stay."

What?

What was I thinking? What was I doing? I couldn't just say that I would stay with him and his group. I didn't know these people, I couldn't just make a life decision on this feeling I had about Ellis. I couldn't believe it. No, it wasn't too late, I could still change my answer—

He smiled brightly, "Really? That's great!" He stepped forward and suddenly his arms were around my waist. Before I knew it, his lips were on mine and we were kissing. I was quite taken aback by his little act; what in the world was he doing? My heart pretty much stopped and the rest of my body was in shock. Did he really just kiss me? Okay, never mind, it was too late to change my answer…

He quickly pulled away after feeling my body tense up. He looked at me and sheepishly smiled, his cheeks blushing. He looked so gosh darn cute – which really didn't help my case at all, in fact, it made it worse.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—I mean, I did mean that I just—oops, guess I shoulda asked you first, huh?" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground, his cheeks growing darker.

I came out of my shock but I still was speechless. I mean, what was I supposed to say anyway?

He laughed nervously, "Ya know, this kinda reminds me of my buddy Keith. This one time he-"

I cut him off as I grabbed his face and leaned forward to kiss him again. I disregarded the logic yelling at me from my brain and kept kissing him. My hands slowly moved from his face to wrap around his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist again and pulled me closer. He deepened the kiss and I felt like I could melt in his arms. I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it, but I knew that it felt good and I felt safe. I felt like I could trust Ellis and that I wouldn't be a burden on the group. I felt like maybe I found somewhere I could belong.

I knew that in this crazy mess of a world, I wasn't alone anymore.

A/N: Okay sooo this was my first Left 4 Dead Story and sadly it didn't turn out as well as I hoped... :/ Oh well, I still liked it and hope you enjoyed it as well. I've been pretty obsessed with the game recently and I love Ellis! (if you couldn't tell haha) It was kinda hard for me at first to think that L4D could be fluffy so I did the next best thing haha... just kidding, I had no idea what I was doing. Most of this was written at early hours of the morning when I should have been asleep (which would account for why I had no idead what I was doing and why it didn't turn out like I planned.. Maybe I'll do another one later? Anyway R&R please! :)