This chapter's pretty dialogue heavy. If ya wanna review, go for it. c:


"Okay, CEDA's officially on my shit list. Any ideas?" The next morning the question of what to do came up.

"Well, CEDA's useless, so why don't we just keep moving? Maybe go to the next city, wherever that is." Caroline suggested, daring a look into the fridge.

"What else is there to do? Right now that seems like our only option. Look around, see if there's anything we can use."

"Hey guys! Git down 'ere!" Caroline closed a cupboard she had been rummaging through and ran to the basement door where she'd heard Ellis' voice. 'Guess he found something.' She followed Nick down the stairs but stopped when she saw Ellis' find.

"This…is awesome." Ellis was grinning ear to ear. There was about ten different weapons and ammo to last them a while.

"Alright we have guns. What about food?" Nick questioned, El pointed to a small closet. Caroline walked over to it and pulled the small door open,

"Holy crap."

All she could do was stare for several moments until a voice brought her back,

"What is it?" Daisy asked, walking over. Caroline grinned and turned to her friend,

"We have food!"

"Really?" Caroline nodded and pulled the older woman next to her, a finger pointed into the small pantry. Most of it was canned fruit, some soup and several bottles of water in bulk.

"Someone was prepared." Daisy muttered,

"What you guys lookin' at?" Coach had ventured downstairs as well,

"We got guns an' food Coach." Ellis sounded proud once more.

"Wonder how long this house has been empty," Daisy thought out loud and pushed cans around to see what other contents the pantry held.

"Working electricity, plenty of food, water, and guns, I'd guess not long. Still thinkin' they got picked up by CEDA." Coach sounded hopeful still. Caroline rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, because CEDA is just so good at their job. Coach, you got too much faith in CEDA. If they did anything right we wouldn't be here right now."

"Well it doesn't hurt to think there's still hope."

"Oh? And where do you expect that hope to take us Coach? To another supposed evac? Because we all know how that worked out so well last time.

"Y'know, because crashing in a fucking airplane, climbing down a giant fucking tree, and being stranded somewhere in Missouri ain't all that bad." Caroline was starting to get angry. She was sick of putting her life in the hands of a government who'd failed to save them more than once. Daisy cut in,

"Stay purdy you guys, stay purdy." The interruption was in vain as Caroline just kept talking.

"Not to mention, we're one person short!" Nick cut in as well,

"Caroline, that's enough." but it was too late. The words were out.

"Well I'd say compared to bein' dragged off by a Smoker, then yeah, crashing in a tree ain't all that bad! And maybe if you'd been watching her back better she'd still be here!" Caroline's eyes watered instantaneously. If looks could kill Coach would have been a dead man, six feet under.

"Yeah, because you would know what happened instead. No. You were too busy running ahead of everyone to get to the fucking chopper first.

"You only cared about saving your own fat ass. I ran back to help her! I did all I could've possibly done to help her!" Not wanting anyone to witness her tears Caroline turned and went upstairs to the main part of the house, Rochelle's screams re-entering her mind.

"Alright ya'll, we only got ten minutes to get to the other side, so as soon as the bridge is down we gotta move, move as quickly as possible." Coach said then pushed the button to lower the bridge. Caroline shouldered her shotgun, opted to use her machete instead. She figured it'd be a helluva lot more useful. As soon as the bridge lowered they were moving.

"Chase that you zombie sons a bitches!" Ellis threw a pipe bomb. They were surrounded all too soon. They continued to move, didn't take the time to watch the explosion as they'd done a few times prior. The low growl of a Hunter attracted Caroline's attention and she pulled out her shotgun. She searched and caught sight just as it leapt at her. She smacked it with the butt of her weapon and shot it twice before it dropped dead. She shouldered her gun once more and picked up her machete. She looked ahead and saw Nick and Daisy in front of her, Rochelle, and Ellis. Ahead of them was Coach.

"There's the chopper!" Caroline couldn't tell who yelled it as she was shooting a Hunter off of Rochelle. She quickly helped her up and handed her a shot of adrenaline,

"Come on girl, we can't have you on the ground, we're almost there!" They continued moving, Rochelle between Caroline and Ellis. Caroline cleared any immediate zombies while Ellis shot at any ahead with one pistol as he helped Rochelle along.

Near the end now, Nick and Daisy got caught up in a mess of zombies. Caroline fished out one of the last pipe bombs from her backpack and lit it before throwing it, still moving all the while. Fortunately, they were closer to the others now.

The gates were in view,

"We're almost there guys!" As soon as the words were out, Rochelle screamed,

"Help me!" Caroline whipped around in time to see Rochelle being dragged away, a Smoker tongue wrapped around her torso. She pulled out a pistol and searched frantically for the infected. Once spotted, Caroline ran in the direction Rochelle was being pulled, all the while shooting at the Smoker. When her pistol ran out of ammo she threw it angrily and pulled her second one out, ready to shoot when she heard a loud shriek, more screaming accompanied it. She turned to see a Hunter on top of Ellis,

"Get it off! Get it off me dammit!" She pulled her shotgun from her back and ran to Ellis, kicking the infected creature off him before putting two slugs into its body. She pulled Ellis up, Rochelle's screams fading as she was pulled further away.

"We have to go!" Caroline looked to where Rochelle was dragged and bit her lip, 'I'm so sorry girl…' She wasn't even visible anymore. Ellis grabbed her arm and pulled,

"Caroline, we gotta go! We can't save her!" Caroline looked to him for a split second before she snapped back to reality.

The chopper was so close, the only things in their way were chain link fences. They weaved in and out of said fences when a loud roar could be heard, followed by a frantic scream of,

"TANK!" They didn't have anymore molotovs and pipe bombs are useless against the hulking creatures. Caroline pulled her shotgun out once more and started shooting at the Tank, running backward the whole time. When all the shells were gone she tossed the useless weapon aside and pulled out a pistol, trying in vain to affect the monster that was now running toward her. When her pistol clicked empty she hurled it as hard as she could at it,

"Fuck you asshole!" The Tank was about five feet from her when it suddenly burst into flames. It yelled in pain and turned around to go after its attackers, abandoning Caroline. She doubled back and ran back to everyone, picking up a submachine gun. She fired at the Tank some more before it finally fell to the ground, lifeless.

There was a chain link fence and a ramp between them and the helicopter. Coach had already gotten to the chopper. Nick and Daisy weren't far behind.

"Come on!" Coach yelled when Ellis and Caroline were in hearing distance.

Over all the noise Caroline still heard it, but before she could warn Ellis the Charger came from seemingly out of nowhere. Caroline narrowly avoided it, but Ellis hadn't been so lucky.

"Shoot this god damn bastard!" 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' She looked around frantically for any kind of weapon. The machine gun she'd picked up earlier had long since run out of bullets. She spotted a gun and picked it up, not caring in the least what it was before she started unloading bullets into the Charger until it dropped Ellis and fell to the ground.

Caroline pulled him up,

"Come on honey, the chopper's right there!" He was beat up pretty bad and couldn't move as quickly but Caroline helped him along as fast as he was able and eventually they made it to the chopper. Upon entering, Coach gave a questioning look to them. Caroline could only shake her head as she helped Ellis sit, before sitting herself. She didn't feel safe until the doors completely closed and the helicopter took off.

Caroline didn't know how long she'd been thinking about what happened when Ellis found her on the roof. [It turned out the door to the room leading out there had been a safe house door. (Like in the church in L4D1.)] She'd long since stopped crying but she couldn't stop thinking about the events on the bridge. She almost started again when Ellis sat behind her wordlessly and wrapped his arms around her, his chin on her shoulder.

"Y'alright?" He asked softly after a while, Caroline shrugged,

"Not really." He held out a water bottle,

"Broughtchya some water." She couldn't help but smile and took the offered bottle, opening it to take a drink.

"Thanks El." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, her arms wrapping around her legs. Ellis let her get situated before wrapping his arms back around her.

"Y'know, Coach feels real bad 'bout what he said." Caroline ran a hand through her hair and let out another sigh,

"You know, I don't even care anymore."

"But you seemed really-"

"About any of this Ellis." She interrupted before he could finish and felt him tense up slightly,

"You givin' up?" She shrugged,

"After what happened yesterday, been thinkin' about it." Not wanting to face him, Caroline played with the seal on the water bottle, gazing at the street below.

"I'm just so sick of this…"

"Caroline, you can't-" She interrupted him again,

"She's gone Ellis." Finally, she looked at him,

"Rochelle is dead." She tried desperately to ignore the way he flinched when she said the words and continued,

"Coach was right. It was my fault." She forced out a bitter laugh,

"I'm just glad she's not here to be fucked over by CEDA with us."

"Caroline it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't. If it was anyone's fault, it was mine. She was behind you, I was behind her. An' I saw you. If that Jumper hadn'ta pounced me you woulda been able to get to her. It was my fault. I wasn't payin' attention." Caroline sighed again, she didn't want Ellis taking blame. She was about to tell him so but he continued,

"Now, we ain't come all this way jus' so you can give up now. So, you gonna stay with me?" She turned her head to look at him, and despite all they had been through she still saw hope in his eyes. So she nodded,

"Okay Ellis, I'll stay with you." He bumped his head gently against her own, making her smile,

"Good."