This is my first Left 4 Dead fanfiction and I'm going to try and update somewhat regularly, it may be a bit erratic at the start as I try to keep myself focused on a plan but that should hopefully calm down once I get into the swing of things. I'm trying to stick to canon as much as possible but I will probably be messing about with the timeline quite a bit so that I don't have to rush things.

Anyway I hope you enjoy and it any reviews would be appreciated as I really want to make sure I'm doing things right and any tips I can get to improve on my technique are welcome.

Chapter 1

Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

2 days after first infection

7pm

Cass lay on her bedroom floor, staring up at the ceiling with a vacant expression on her face. Scattered around her lay pages upon pages of handwritten notes. One look at them would show them to be coursework notes, possibly for some sort of design related subject. A sudden knock on the front door arose her from her daydream state.

"One sec!" she called out as she picked herself up off the floor. She knew the person at the door probably couldn't hear her but she didn't really care. Humanity did odd things sometimes and this was just one of them. As she made her way to the door she pushed her shoulder-length, jet black hair out of the way of her hazel-coloured eyes. She fumbled with the door handle for a second before pulling the door open to reveal a female of roughly her own age, donning jeans and a pink top, the zip open enough to reveal the white t-shirt she wore underneath. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and her green eyes were brimming with tears.

"Zoey?" Cass asked her confused, "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"It's my parents," she sobbed in reply, "They're...they're both dead. I didn't know where else to go."

"What?" Cass gasped, horrified, "That's terrible, come in. I'll make you a hot drink, it may help somehow." She stepped to the side to let Zoey in, closing the door behind her before making her way to the kitchen. Minutes later she was handing Zoey a mug of coffee and placing a blanket around her shoulders.

"Now," she said, sitting beside her best friend, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it but tell me what happened, it'll help." Having lost both her parents at an early age, Cass had some idea of the emotional torment Zoey must have been going through at this moment in time.

"You aren't going to believe me when I explain it," Zoey sniffed, taking a sip of coffee, "I still can't really believe it...I mean one minute everything was normal with my parents arguing about how I'm dropping out of college and then the next everything was going to hell."

"The argument got out of hand?" Cass asked, confused. She knew Zoey's parents and neither Wade nor Carolyn seemed like the type of person who would start a fight over something like that, let alone a fight that would result in them both dying.

"No Cass, you know my parents aren't like that," Zoey sighed almost bitterly, "Some guy randomly wandered in, my dad mentioned that he had that so-called flu that's been going around...anyway, my dad tells him to get out but this guy just refuses to acknowledge the fact he's even being spoken to so my dad grabs his gun and says he's got till the count of three...well, that's when things got really fucked up...he lunges forward and attacks my mom, bites a chunk clean out of her face." Zoey had to pause for a moment to fight back the tears.

"So the papers were telling the truth for once?" Cass questioned, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah and about all of it," Zoey nodded grimly, wiping her eyes, "My dad shot the guy after he bit mom but she was bleeding pretty badly so he told me to call an ambulance...the number was busy though. Next thing I knew my dad was yelling, I looked in to see what was up and she was attacking him...like she had that flu now. It was like something out of a zombie movie, you know?"

"That's horrible," she remarked sympathetically, "Did she...?"

"No," Zoey shook her head, "I called out to her, asked her not to...course that turned her attention to me, would have got me too if my dad hadn't still had the gun in his hand. I ran right to him after she fell, seemed he was going into shock so I told him I'd get the first aid kit so I could stop the bleeding. He...he stopped me, asked me if I remembered the zombie movies he snuck me into when I was a kid...if I remembered the bits where they had to shoot that one guy before he turned...then...then h-he handed me the gun and told me he loved me..." A fresh torrent of tears burst forth from her eyes as the harshness and horror of the scenario fully sank in for Cass.

"I'm so sorry Zoey," she murmured in horrified shock, wrapping her arms around her childhood friend and giving her a comforting hug, "I am so sorry you had to do that, but I can see why he wanted you to...he didn't want to run the risk of him doing to you what your mother ended up doing to him...he wanted to keep you safe and you are which means he can rest in peace."

"I'm lucky to have gotten here in one piece," she admitted amidst the tears, "The city is overrun Cass, the streets are crawling with them, you just need to look out the window to see that." Cass blinked, letting go of Zoey and moving over to look out of the window.

"Holy crap," she gasped, "When the fuck did that happen? The things you don't notice when studying..."

"There's probably not many who did notice it happen," Zoey sighed, "It just seems to have gone from everything being fine one moment to the freaking apocalypse the next."

"Well with any luck it'll be dealt with just as fast," Cass muttered, moving to make sure the door was locked, "Until then I guess we should just hole up here. If it gets too bad they're bound to start evacuating people...I just hope Ryan's not in any trouble." Cass returned to the sofa, her thoughts focused on her older brother. He was currently out of town on a business trip and was due back tomorrow, though if the current situation remained as it was it could be a lot longer till she saw him again...and if it was worse than it seemed then there could even be the possibility that she would never see him again. She shook her head slightly, riding herself of these thoughts. She could think on this later, right now she had to be strong for Zoey.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Zoey said, finishing her coffee, "Though once news of this gets out he's going to be very worried about you." Cass smiled slightly.

"He's always worried about me," she chuckled lightly, "He treats me as if I'm still a kid sometimes."

"Its because he cares about you," Zoey pointed out, placing her empty cup on the table in front of them "You're all each other has left."

"That's not entirely true," Cass argued, "We've got you too. Just like you'll always have us." Zoey managed a small smile though her eyes were still red and puffy from all her tears.

"Thank you Cass," she said, "I really don't know what I would have done if I'd never met you." Cass smiled. The two of them had been introduced to each other by Zoey's father. Wade had been the officer whom had been given the unfortunate duty of telling two small children, aged 6 and 8, and their babysitter that their parents had died in a car accident. Cass and Ryan had to move in with their aunt and uncle after that but Wade always liked to check in every now and then to check on how they were doing. When he found out that Cass had been taking it particularly badly he had decided to take Zoey with him on his next visit, thinking that having a friend to play with may help. Ryan and Zoey got on almost instantly but it took some time to coax Cass out of her shell. Since that time though, the two had been firm friends.

"...What do we do if they manage to get in here?" Zoey asked quietly, "I mean I still have my father's pistol with me but its out of ammunition."

"That's a good point," Cass frowned, "We'll just have to find something in here we can use as a weapon...we should probably also take it in turns to keep a watch whilst the other sleeps. I don't really fancy being attacked in my sleep." Zoey nodded in agreement as Cass stood up and began to rummage around, looking for possible weapons.

"Well," Cass began after a good half hour of searching, "We've got an few knives, various pots and pans and if we're desperate enough, Ryan's guitar, though I'd rather not have to use that, he'd skin me alive when he found out."

"Nothing that doesn't require you getting up close first then?" Zoey enquired.

"Erm...you could always throw stuff?" Cass shrugged, "We aint got a lot of options I'm afraid Zoey and this place is rather small so we'd be closer to them than we'd like anyway."

"True," Zoey agreed, attempting to stifle a yawn. Cass smiled at her.

"You should get some sleep," she told her, "After what you've been through today you need it."

"I guess you're right," Zoey sighed, "Where am I to sleep?"

"Wherever you want," Cass replied, "Both beds are spare or if you really wanted to you could sleep here on the sofa."

"Might be safer if we both stayed in the same room," Zoey mumbled, trying not to seem scared, "You never know if one of them could somehow climb through the window."

"Sofa it is then," Cass nodded, "I'll go grab some pillows and stuff." Cass disappeared off into her room, emerging not too long later with two pillows and some more blankets, incase they were required, and a book for her to read whilst Zoey slept. She deposited them next to the sofa and she and Zoey set about sorting them out. Before long, Zoey was comfortably curled up, ready to sleep and Cass sat on the floor next to her, blanket over her, flicking through the book to find her page.

"Night Cass," Zoey yawned, "Wake me up when its my turn to keep watch."

"Will do," she replied, smiling, "Until then, you sleep well." She watched as Zoey closed her eyes, falling asleep nearly instantaneously. She had no intentions of waking Zoey up tonight unless absolutely necessary. Cass sighed, her thoughts returning to her brother for a moment.

"Please be safe Ryan," she whispered to herself before immersing herself in her book whilst at the same time making sure to stay alert.