-Chapter Two-

~When push comes to shove~

She listened to the sobs of the Witch as she stared at the concrete floor, hoping it would walk on soon. She didn't like to hear it. It was so...alluring. It felt like her heart was dying to go outside and comfort the Witch. To stop the sobbing and wailing. She knew better, though. The moment she caught it's attention, it'd rip her to shreds.

Startling the Witch... She knew that all too well. The scream of surprise. The angry sounds that gurgled out of her throat as she ran at you, arms stretched forward, long claws ready to rip.

It was a lot less stomach-churning on the game.

Her head snapped up as she heard the sound of the garage door opening, letting in the sun and the irony smell of blood, the stench of terror. Her eyes grew wide as she saw her little sister begin to walk outside, heading for the Witch who was at the end of their driveway. "Lizzy, come back here!" She ran to the bay door of the garage and grabbed Lizzy's small arm, yanking her up and into her arms. She ran to the button on the wall and slammed her palm into it, letting the door begin to creep it's way back down. The Witch never stopped her sobbing, nor did she look in their direction. As the door shut, she put Lizzy on the floor and firmly told her to stay in the garage, the sobbing woman would kill her. Everything would probably try and kill her.

After calming herself back down, she sharply turned back to the other end of the concrete room, "Why didn't you guys try and sto-", her parents weren't in their chairs. They weren't in the garage. She turned on her heel, almost twisting her ankle, as she ran to the bay door. She gripped the metal rip of the windows and pulled herself up, straining her small arms and fingers.

Her mind clouded over and she lost her voice as she saw her parents on the driveway, covered in zombies, being ripped apart and eaten. She lost her grip and dropped down, landing on her feet and quickly losing her footing, falling back on her bottom. She stared at the grey door, tears brimming her eyes and nausea starting to make itself known. She didn't see them go outside. Her gut churned again and she buried her head in her knees as she kept swallowing back the urge to puke. "Where's momma and daddy, sissy?" Lizzy asked as she pulled on the sleeve of her pamjama shirt. Cassie swallowed deeply before looking at her baby sister, "They aren't coming back, Lizzy. Listen, you've got to stay close to me... Alright?" Lizzy started to cry as she nodded and huddled close to Cassie's side. They shared a few empty moments of peace.

The commotion Cassie had made while getting Lizzy had attracted more zombies. They now beat on the garage door, and the sound of clawing was heard on the basement door upstairs. Lizzy was curled up in a corner, sitting on a matress with a blanket draped over her, trying to find sleep, or atleast a moment of rest from the fightful noises coming from everywhere. Cassie sat on a chair, two CZ-USA 75 Center fire handguns on her lap, safety off, fully loaded. Her dad had been a gun fanatic. He had atleast twenty-five rifles and about five handguns, and a ton of ammo. He had also taught his eldest daughter how to shoot, how to reload, and how to clean them. He always had the idea that one day guns would be the most valuable thing anyone could own, that if you couldn't fire a gun, you were as good as dead.

He was a smart man.

In a calm situation, she could fire a gun rather easily. But, would she be able to fire at a zombie coming at her with blood dripping from them? Heaven knows that Lizzy couldn't shoot, she was just a little girl. No experience with anything remotely close to a gun, much less zombie fighting. She would try and protect Lizzy as much as she could, as long as she could.

She looked up the stairs at the basement door, watching as the wood began to show signs of wearing. The wood was thin and was hollow on the inside. The zombies would claw their way in soon. She needed to get them both out of the basement. But, where would they go? Outside into the feeding frenzy, with no way of a quick escape? No, there had to be some other option.

They can't die already.

...

How many other dead or zombie-fied people thought that already?

She looked around the basement and then at the side door located on the side of the garage. It lead to the back yard and her father's Alabama Power work truck. A large double cab Toyota Tundra, complete with a cable and hook on the front for pulling down and dragging power poles. It also had a tool trunk in the back along with a cooler and a large coil of electricity line.

Just what she needed to run over zombies and get the hell out of Jemison. To somewhere safe.

After loading up a backpack she had found with water bottles, food, ammunition, and the other three handguns, she got Lizzy ready and grabbed her two pistols. She walked to the side door and took a deep, long breath. They might not make it to the truck. They might not make it two feet outside. But, it was a risk they would be taking. She unlocked the door slowly, making as little noise as possible. She then turned to Lizzy and hoisted her onto her back,"Lizzy, hang on and don't let go for anything. Be very quiet, okay?" After recieving a small reply, Cassie wrapped her hand on the doorknob, and slowly turned it, making the smallest sound one can when twisting a doorknob during a zombie apocalypse. She started to open the door, carefully, and her head snapped to the stairs as a zombie stepped foot onto the concrete, eyeing them with those hungry, wide eyes before charging at them, giving out a vicious growl, and soon more footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

Their cover was blown. No more time for caution.

Cassie yanked open the door and bolted outside, truck in sight, zombies on her heels. She heard the sound as more zombies started to gather at the prospect of a meal. For what seemed like a damned eternity, she reached the truck. Thanking God for the fact that her dad never locked anything, she wrenched the door open and shouted an apology as she threw Lizzy in the passenger seat and then the backpack. She then grabbed the top of the car door and pulled herself in. She let out a surprised yelp as a hand dug into the back of her lower leg, trying to pull her out of the truck. Adrenaline overtook her as she quickly reached for one of the handguns and aimed at the zombie's head and fired two shots into it's mouth. As it reeled backwards, screaming, she slammed the door to the truck and opened up a CD case, taking out the spare key and putting it in the ignition. She didn't look to see the blood pooling on the floorboards as she slammed on the gas and sped out of her yard. Leaving everything behind but her sister, her pajamas and her most valuable possessions, her father's handguns.

She drove past Mell's house, slowing down before coming to a crawl. She looked around and saw that the windows had been shattered and blood covered a lot of the ground and porch. She saw that the Ford Taurus was still in the driveway, no one, not even a zombie, responded as she called out Mell's name from her window. Lizzy started to cry again as Cassie rolled up the window and started to drive out of Jemison city limits.

After two hours of driving barefoot and bleeding, Cassie looked down to see that they only had a quarter of a tank of gas left. They would have to stop soon and fill up the tank. She glanced at Lizzy, who was asleep, leaning on the backpack. Lizzy didn't deserve to have to go through this. Hell, no one did. Cassie didn't believe in wishes, much less indirect ones. It almost brought cruel humor to her when she thought about it.

Her leg began to grow numb and she felt nausea spring up and send her stomach into a spin. She slammed on the breaks and flung open the truck door, hurridly limping from the truck and puking everything she had endured into the ditch on the side of the road.

"Woah, guys, I think that's a person over there!" She looked up and stared at the woodline, blinking, trying to remember where she heard that voice from. So goddamn familiar.

"I think she's bleedin'...Hey, Rochelle, lend me that medi-kit!"

Holy shit.

"Sure, Ellis! Hey, guys, let's go and check this out!"

She wearily stood up, a look of disbelief etching her tired, pale face as she turned and stared at the group of people heading towards her.

If she wasn't about to throw up again, she would have sprung into the air and yelled in happiness.

It's the survivors of L4D2.