Woot! First L4D2 chapter story! -pops champagne- So, yeah... OMG. I've been working on this damn chapter for nearly a week! It was just bugging my brain as I thought about it the other day. I've had to sit through damn testing all week long (standardized, state-wide testing SUCKS), so I didn't get much of a chance to write at school, but home was pretty much boring, so YAY! And it's Thursday, so I'll have all weekend to write and play L4D2 for more motivation!

AND I GOT "THE PASSING" AND "THE SACRIFICE" SUNDAY! OMG! I swear to God I cracked up when Nick said "Hey, Ellis, did you catch that girl's name? I could tattoo it on your ass. I bet she'd like that". My brother was looking at me like I'm insane. Then my Nellis love grew when Nick was like "I hate you Ellis!" after Ellis said something about the sewage they were walking through, and then Ellis was like "Well, I still like you, Nick." AND THEY TRY TO COUPLE HIM WITH ZOEY? Eh. It's whatever XD

I also feel kinda sick for cramming a whole plate of macaroni and cheese down in a few minutes ._. I made a mistake... :P

Disclaimer: If I owned Left4Dead2, Keith would have made some badass appearance in The Passing. Just sayin'. That kid's tough and he's my hero. I love him.

SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT: Ohai GlassSoul! :D Playin' online with you is fun (I do agree that Nick is jealous of Jimmy Gibb's car), and I think you'll love this story soon! That car isn't the only thing Nick is jealous of;D Heeheee XD

Enjoy, yo. -cuddles with a Hunter- Also review; they make me happy C:

Chapter One: After The Crash

Gunshots rang, echoing off the tress, the outside of a crushed helicopter, and the walls of the safe room in the near distance. Bullets fell to the sticky ground with plops, barely audibly over the gunfire as a group of four ran, looking back only to shoot at their enemies, falling to the ground as fast as the ammo casings. "Hurry the hell up! There's a safe house up ahead!" One near the front yelled, brown hair messy, green eyes wide as he ran, filled with fire, once white suit splattered with blood, dirt, swamp water and sewage. The person in front of him, a boy no older then twenty-three, tripped on an exposed tree root, falling to the group with a pained groan. "Dammit, Ellis!" The man picked up his comrade, and half-carried him the rest of the way. "C'mon, walk!"

"My ankle hurts!" the boy spoke, voice thick with a Southern accent. "I can't walk right!"

"Dammit all to fucking hell!" the man yelled, sighing with relief when him and his partner collapsed to the floor of the safe house, their other two members following shortly after.

"Christ…" the only women breathed, trying to steady her lungs. "Just when I thought we'd get to safety…"

The man chuckled. "Safety. Funny." He looked at her. "Cute, almost, Rochelle. If we had landed near the evac center, I wouldn't go in there anyway. The pilot crashed the helicopter on purpose!"

The eldest of them glared. "Nick. You don't gotta be mean, now. Rochelle's just tryin' to make a point."

"And that is?" Nick mused, raising an eyebrow. "The helicopter pilot crashed the helicopter so he could kill us! There's no point to be out of it!"

Rochelle got defensive. "There is when we don't even know why!"

"It's 'cause we're carriers, or somethin'."

The three looked to their youngest, who was carefully wrapping his ankle up. "It ain't hard. The pilot had asked us if we had encountered the infected. I knew somethin' was up when he asked, and then hesitantly said they had room. Somehow I knew he'd try somethin' like this…" he looked up, blue eyes shining under the shadow of his baseball cap. "Sorry…"

"It ain't your fault, boy…" the oldest came over to help him bandage his ankle. "It was a gut feelin', and those haven't been doin' much for us lately. We probably wouldn't have believed ya, to be honest." He smiled, one of those friendly grins that we so good with. "Okay, Ellis?"

Ellis smiled back and nodded, standing up carefully on his left ankle, steadying himself by the supply table. "So, what now?"

"Well… It's apparent the crash attracted zombies from nearly two miles away or so. We should stay here 'till it's safe to leave. We're all tired, anyway." Rochelle said, reloading her SMG, then setting it down on the table. "Any objections?"

Everyone settled into silence after Rochelle spoke, Coach trying to heal minor wounds on everyone before turning to himself. "I can't believe we survived another fuckin' helicopter crash." Nick complained, leaning against the safe house wall, ignoring the smudging messages. "We're either cursed or some weird kind of blessed."

"Or we're so badass," Ellis started with a smile, "nothin' could kill us now!" He wiped some blood from his cheeks. "I mean, shit! We've been from Georgia to New Orleans, gone through a mill full of witches, ran down five flights of burnin' stairs, gotta drive Jimmy Gibbs' car, fought zombies atta concert, been in two helicopter crashes and got bombed! I'm thinkin' we can take on anythin'!"

Nick grumbled at the optimism. "Ellis, we're running on sheer luck."

"Nah, man. We're just too badass. No one's who normal," he put air quotes around the word, "could ever do the shit we've done and live through it! Just look at the other survivors' messages! We're gonna make it!"

Nick snorted. "Yeah. One month later, no closer to the evac center, and we're going to make it."

Ellis' blue eyes dulled out and his head bowed as he grabbed some shotgun shells to reload his gun. Rochelle kicked Nick in the side softly, and then went over to the mechanic, sitting next to him on the table and putting an arm around him. "Hey now, sweetie. You're right. We're gonna make it." She coed. "If we're not dead now, it'd be a shock to find something that can. We'll be okay."

"No, that's not it. There's somethin' else, Ro."

She cocked her head. "What's wrong?"

"It's Keith."

Everyone was startled. New Orleans' safe house right before they ran the bridge was the last place they had heard a Keith story. After they got on the helicopter, they didn't hear another story, much less his name. Whether Ellis had run out of stories or didn't feel like telling one was a mystery. Now, his words, that five-letter name, hung thick in the air.

"What about him, El?" Coach asked.

The redneck swallowed. "I kinda miss 'em. I was hopin' maybe we'd see him in the evac center, but now we're so far away again. I just hope he's okay…"

Ellis, for the past month the other three had known him, had never been anything but optimistic and cheerful, and sometimes they managed to forget he could be worried, scared, sad and angry. They always figured that his mind was fragile, and he was just playing the cheerful act, but now it seemed that he was really loosing his cool in a way worrying about his friend, who was nothing more than a legend amongst them.

"I bet his is," Rochelle smiled. "I mean, if you're stories are real, and all those things really did happen to him, then he's tough. I doubt he's dead, and I bet you'll see him again, okay?"

Ellis nodded, sullenly.

"Now, why don't ya tell us a Keith story?" Coach asked, trying his best to cheer the boy up.

"Well, there was this one time Keith and I were workin' on his truck, and he forgot to put the safety brake on, and while we were under it, working, it just started rollin' away, down the street. He chased it all across the neighborhood, almost, and he had to pay two fines and got his truck taken away." Ellis' grin was back. "His ma finally gave it back three months later, but she was pissed."

It wasn't the best they had heard (they all claimed the one about the Tunnel of Love was the most outrageous), but it got Ellis to smile, and in turn, they were all smiling. Nick looked away as a small smirk drew across his face.

"There. See? You'll be okay." Ro hoped off the table, and looked out the window. The sun was almost set, and it occurred they hadn't really paid attention to time after the crash. "We should head to bed. Who's staying up for guarding?"

It was simultaneous that Ellis and Nick raised their hands for volunteering at the same time, and they exchanged a puzzled look. Even Ro looked between them before huffing, a bit confused. "Well, okay? Coach and I are gonna go into the next room over. Switch off between you two so you'll both get a little bit of sleep, okay?"

Nick grumbled and Ellis nodded as Rochelle and Coach picked up two of the sleeping bags and left for the other room, leaving the conman and the mechanic by the safe house door. "So, um…."

"How's you're ankle feeling?" Nick asked, almost like if he was ignoring Ellis' almost comment, taking a chance to reload his pistols that rested in holsters on his side. The mechanic blinked a few times before shrugging.

"Well, I think I twisted it, but I ain't sure… It hurts still, if that's what you're askin'." The hick said, a little stunned that Nick was taking some sort of interest in his health. Ever since the mall, it seemed Nick was just detached from the rest of the world and he usually acted upon it, aloof and pessimistic, never really one to follow a group or even team up with complete strangers. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The conman said simply, his tone icy, but voice almost sincere. "I was just worried about your ankle. I guess that's what you get for running out in front of me."

Ellis' mouth fell open. "My fault? How it my fault for goin' out in front of you? If I hadn't, you woulda tripped on the tree root and hurt your ankle!"

"So? I've been through worse."

Ellis made a face, then sighed and leaned against the wall. "Did I ever tell ya about the days before the infection, back before all this shit happened?"

"No. You're always too busy yapping about Keith."

The mechanic smiled. "Well, Keith and I had gone over to my Ma's for dinner, like we always did, and she always had this six sense to trouble, like when Keith and I made bumper car riders outta law mowers, Ma said she felt off that day and almost cut her finger while makin' dinner. Well, anyway, when we went over there that night, she said she had that off feelin' again, and told us to be careful, then before we left, she gave me this." He reached into the collar of his tattered and dirty cream-colored shirt and pulled up a small chain with an amber rock attached to it. The gem glowed in the dim light, all amber and dark brown streaks, and Ellis held it proudly.

"What is it?" Nick asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

"It's called a 'Tiger's Eye'. Ma said it was her mother's, and it was her mother's mother's mother's, too. It's been passed down my family, and since my ma never hadda girl, I got it. She told me to take care of it, never take it off and never let it leave my site. Two days later, they were evacuatin', and I never saw my ma or Keith again."

Nick blinked, looking at the stone then reverting his gaze to Ellis. "Hmmm…" He hummed, turning to look at the wall across, the messages written on them claiming that this was the last safe house for miles, which made Nick groan in anguish. "We never get rest, do we?"

"It's the apocalypse and shit. We prolly ain't gonna ever see anything normal ever again." Ellis added, sighing and slipping his eyes close. "I could kill for some macaroni right now."

"What?" The conman snapped, looking at Ellis with a raise brow. "Macaroni?"

"And cheese." The hick corrected, smiling. "It was my favorite thing to eat when I was little, and Ma would make it for me once every week. Keith and I thought once we grew up and got our own house, we'd live off the shit, but we found out that it's a lot cheaper just to eat ramen." Ellis' voice wavered off and a huge sigh followed it.

Nick snorted. "You're such a child." He told him, but the silence startled him. When he looked over, the kid's face was calm, and he was snoring lightly. The conman huffed and let him sleep. "I'm waking you up in two hours, Overalls."