Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.

A/N: Hi, again! Thanks so much to everyone who's read this story so far. I'd like to offer a huge thanks to WATERDOG139 for being my very first follower and favouriter of both my account and this story. I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and to everyone else, please feel free to review!

Happy reading!

~ Not So Forsaken ~

- Chapter Two -

The group rested momentarily in the surprisingly bright safe room, recovering from the horrendously difficult task of trying to breathe in the inferno that they'd just come from.

Rochelle and Coach were filling Ellis' backpack with first aid kits and other medical supplies, including a portable defib unit that sat on a nearby desk. Julia watched with concern, feeling anxious at the very notion that a defib unit might be needed. She rubbed absently at her now exposed forearms, fingers running over the various bruises that littered her pale skin. Coach was putting ammo into boxes and organising them to see what they were able to take with them, and Nick stood away from the group, examining the various rings on his fingers.

"Julia?"

The sleeves of the young woman's hoodie came down so fast that she almost lost her grip on them, and she looked up at Coach with wide eyes, who was busy packing ammo into her duffel bag.

"Are you carryin' anythin' personal or sentimental in this bag of yours?" He asked her quietly.

"Um... No... Just ammo and my own med supplies." She said with a nervous smile, "I guess the med supplies are now with Ellis."

"Yeah, they are." Coach said softly, "This may feel a little heavy when it's full if you're okay carryin' it."

Julia nodded, and then rubbed her hands anxiously as he continued filled the bag before moving to pick up her muted submachine gun, which she'd left on a nearby table. Coach zipped up the bag, turning back to her with a warm smile before handing it to her, allowing her to slip it back over her head. Nick stepped forward, noticing Julia's attempts to make the bag feel more comfortable. Coach was right. It was a little heavy.

"Need me to carry that for ya, cupcake?" He asked with a smirk, earning a frown and a nervous glare from the younger woman.

"I'm fine, thank you." She told him, trying to fight her instinct to take a step away from him.

She couldn't cope with people, particularly men, being in her personal space when it was uninvited or unwanted. It was another stupid thing that she'd come to be almost afraid of since she got together with Kevin. That man had ruined her. She had no courage, no self-worth, no strength... Now that she was free of him, she realised how much she hated the bastard.

"Alright, people, listen up." Coach began, bringing Julia out of her thoughts, "There's a gun store on the way to the mall. What do you say we pay it a visit?"

"Gun store sounds like a good place to stop." Nick agreed, "Let's go."

Coach cautiously lifted the bar from the safe room exit and gingerly pushed the door open. The area outside was quiet, with only a few zombies wandering in their immediate vicinity which the two older men quickly dispatched with their guns. The sun was bright and warm, and as the group left the safe room, Rochelle found herself basking in the sunshine. Coach led the way with Nick behind him, and Rochelle behind Nick. Ellis was walking next to Julia at the back of the group, hoping to maybe make conversation with the quiet redhead.

"So, uh... You from Savannah, or...?"

"No, actually, I come from Springfield, Illinois." Julia replied with a kind smile, "I was here with my boyfriend 'cause he wanted to come up here for a vacation..."

"Oh." Ellis said softly, "You didn't wanna come here for a vacation?"

Julia's features scrunched up a little in discomfort and, once again, anxiety. She didn't want to hurt Ellis' feelings since he was a local and he probably had a lot of love for the place, but she didn't want to lie either. Lying to a man never ended well for her. She'd learned that very quickly.

"No. I didn't." She said with a shake of her head, "I just wasn't in the mood for a vacation, that's all."

Ellis nodded in understanding, looking across at the pretty redhead with a warm smile. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her boyfriend or where he was. He knew, though, it wouldn't be appropriate to ask, and he decided on this occasion to keep his mouth shut and just to keep walking.

She smiled back sheepishly, looking towards the top of the hill where numerous infected were wandering aimlessly in what looked like an emergency triage area. Coach and Nick came to a stop at the top of the small slope they'd walked up, as though carefully examining the area. There were barricades, tents and CEDA vans all over the place. No surviving humans though. Just infected people. When the others caught up, Nick and Coach started to open fire on the infected, and the others quickly followed suit as the zombies instantly became aware of their presence. A coughing sound could be heard above the snarls of the zombies, however, and the group was suddenly met with the sight of a tall, growth-ridden zombie stumbling towards them from the right of them, tentacle-like appendages emerging from several places on its body.

"We got a Smoker!" Nick yelled above the gunfire, pointing in the direction of the infected.

Julia spun around with her gun, shooting at the approaching figure desperately. What the hell was a Smoker? What did it do? Why was it covered in growths like that? It was hideous and sounded absolutely awful with its hacking cough and wheezy breaths, and the very sight of it sent unpleasant shivers down Julia's back. It stopped several yards away from her, let out a hoarse, terrifying scream, and a long pink tongue shot out of its mouth straight towards her. It wrapped around her midsection, trapping her right arm against her side and squeezing so hard that she let out a horrified yelp, dropping her gun.

Rochelle rushed forward and grabbed a hold of her free arm in an attempt to pull her back to them, while a stone-faced Nick turned on the creature and fired round after round at it. It suddenly released Julia, letting out a hoarse gasp as it collapsed to the ground, smoke emerging from its body in putrid green clouds.

Rochelle and Ellis worked to get the tongue off of Julia, who was near enough panicking at the thought of what could've just happened to her. She looked up at Nick, her eyes wide and almost tearful, but full of gratitude. It made Nick feel a tad uncomfortable. He'd never had a woman look at him like that before, and he didn't really know how to handle it. If she started blubbering he'd have no idea what to do.

"Thank you." She breathed out as Rochelle gave her a quick, reassuring backrub, "All of you."

"No problem, sweetie." Rochelle said warmly, "Come on. We'd better keep going."

The five of them continued moving forward, stopping to look inside the CEDA tent where they found nothing but blood-stained medical beds and one lone dead female, laying in the corner, curled up in the foetal position with what looked like a crucifix clutched in her hand. Coach took a moment to say a brief prayer for the young woman before covering her with one of the bloodied sheets that lay on the medical beds in front of them. The group then took a right turn and headed towards the end of the street, which was closed off with barricades and a chainlink fence.

Nick had moved to the front of the group, walking with determination and confidence and he was closely followed by Coach and Rochelle, who were both being vigilant, but walked with a similar confidence that Nick was displaying. Julia stayed at the back, behind Ellis, her gun held tightly in her hands. How could they all be so calm? She was terrified. Death lurked, quite literally, around every corner. How could Nick walk so quickly and with such determination when something could just jump out and kill him. Ellis looked behind him, watching Julia worriedly as she followed them slowly.

"Come on, Jules..." He said gently, beckoning her to follow, "Don't go fallin' behind, now..."

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Julia quickened her pace, meeting up with the others as they reached a door to their right. Her white t-shirt was no longer sticking to her as it had been due to the intense heat in the hotel, and the warm breeze was actually quite comforting against her skin as it blew gently through the air. It was almost serene in comparison to the chaos that America had been caught up in.

"Let's see what's through here." Nick said, moving away from where he'd been leant against the door, "Sounds quiet enough."

He carefully opened the door, aiming his submachine gun so that the flashlight could illuminate the dark space that they were confronted with. One lone infected stood at the top of the stairs, which he shot dead within seconds of spotting it. Carefully, the group moved forward into the stairway and remained silent, not wanting to alert any infected with trivial conversation. Once they had a sight of the bottom of the stairs, they felt relief when they found that it was empty. However, the silence was broken by the sound of a woman sobbing. Instantly, everyone spun around, looking for the source of the noise.

"Rochelle? That ain't you, is it, girl?" Coach asked, looking around in the darkness for the young woman.

"What?" Rochelle asked incredulously, leading Coach to then look around for the other woman in the group.

"Julia?"

"That's not me." Julia answered in a harsh whisper, "It's coming from outside."

"I don't like the sound of this cryin'..." Nick admitted, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the door to the right of them, "Come on..."

He pushed the door open slowly and passed through it. The crying seemed to be coming from the left of them, so Nick carefully headed down the steps to his left and moved around the truck that was in the tunnel ahead to see if he could spot the source of the crying. Hearts in their mouths, the others followed him, and all were met with the unnerving sight of a woman, almost completely white wearing nothing more than a cropped top and panties, walking around with her head in her hands.

"A crying woman..." Nick said with a shake of the head, turning to the others, "What? You think she's sad that the mall's closed?"

"Nick!" Rochelle hissed, "Shut up!"

Nick rolled his eyes, while Coach turned to the group and spoke to them in a hushed voice so as not to draw the attention of the crying female, who frankly looked freaky as hell and definitely someone that they should avoid.

"Let's keep away from her..." He said quietly, "I don't like the look of her."

"She might need help." Ellis suggested with a frown, "We can't just leave her."

With that, Ellis walked towards the crying woman, despite the hissed protests of the others. Julia watched with wide eyes from her place near the truck, unable to shake the feeling in her gut that something was very wrong with the woman wandering around in front of her. Ellis reached her as she stopped in front of him, her back to him, her sobs suddenly silencing... Her face slowly turned to meet his, and a pair of red glowing eyes were what Ellis was confronted with rather than the tearful ones he'd expected, followed by deep, angry growling as the woman's face contorted into a hideous expression of rage.

"Uh... Are you alright?" Ellis asked warily, starting to back away.

The woman started to shriek at Ellis as he continued to move away from her before finally breaking into a full-blown scream, her arms stretching forwards to reveal long, talon-like claws that were stained with blood. Ellis immediately turned on his heel and started to run, and the others tried to shoot at the woman who was chasing him down almost frantically to protect their fellow survivor. Coach, however, waited patiently for the woman to reach them, and as he saw the first wisps of her long white hair, he aimed his shotgun and fired point blank into the side of her head. She stumbled to the side and collapsed haphazardly by the wall opposite them, half of her head now missing. Ellis slowed to a stop, panting and desperately trying to calm himself down.

"You alright, Ellis?" Rochelle asked, worriedly looking him over.

"Yeah... At least we know now we gotta keep away if we come across any other zombies like her." He panted steadily walking back to them, "Damn, she was fast."

"What do you wanna call those?" Rochelle asked Coach, looking at him expectantly.

"What about Witches?" Julia asked, her voice quiet and eyes wide, "The fact that she was crying would easily lure unsuspecting people in... Y'know... Like the witch in Hansel and Gretel lures children in with her house made of candy?"

"Yeah, Witch sounds about right..." Coach said with a small smile, "You're pretty smart, huh, young 'un?"

Julia smiled sweetly, her cheeks heating up at the compliment. She hadn't been called 'smart' in a long time. Kevin always like to tell her how stupid he thought she was. That was one of the things he used to love doing to her. Embarrassing her and putting her down in front of other people. It seemed to give him some kind of high that she just couldn't understand. But, Julia decided to latch onto the positive words she'd just received from her comrade, rather than the cruel, negative ones from her boyfriend.

"Alright, so now we're done picking names can we move?" Nick asked in a tone that dripped with negativity, "I'd really hate to miss another evac."

"Mister... I don't think I like your attitude." Coach said darkly, glaring at Nick before proceeding to walk past him so he could continue to lead the way, "Let's keep movin'."

Nick followed him with a roll of his eyes, leaving Julia, Rochelle and Ellis to follow. Rochelle and Julia were walking behind the conman, both side by side and both immediately engaging in conversation. It hardly surprised the guys that the girls would be talking amongst themselves. Girls often stuck together in situations like this, although, that being said, there never had been a situation quite like this.

"I can't believe I'm stranded in Savannah." Rochelle said, "This heat isn't doing my hair any good. It's already big enough without being stuck in humid heat like this."

"Yeah, it is pretty hot out here." Julia agreed, running a hand through her hair, "Mine gets big in humidity too."

"Well, why not take that hoodie off, sweetie?" Rochelle asked kindly, "That can't be helping."

Julia's eyes flashed with panic. She couldn't take her hoodie off. She didn't want all the awkward questions when the others saw the fact that her arms were littered with bruises. And it wasn't as if she could pass those off as accidental bruises. For one, there were too many of them, and they were so dark and angry looking that it was clear she'd not gotten them by walking into something. She had one set of fingertip bruises on her right arm that Kevin had given her just twenty-four hours earlier, and she really, really didn't want to have to explain that her boyfriend had not only beaten her regularly for the past eighteen months but that he'd also abandoned her and left her for dead in that hotel. She couldn't face admitting that she'd allowed someone to abuse and hurt her to complete strangers.

"Oh, it's only thin." The excuse came out so clearly and so smoothly that Julia could barely believe she'd given it.

Rochelle seemed to accept it without so much as a hint of doubt, and Julia felt her chest and stomach flood with pure relief. Rochelle, however, sensed in her gut that something was off with the younger woman. That hoodie was not thin. It was plainly obvious that the hoodie wasn't thin, but Rochelle hadn't questioned it because she had a feeling that Julia wasn't happy taking it off, for whatever reason. That reason wasn't any of Rochelle's business, which is why she didn't question the redhead about her response. Instead, she offered her a kind smile and cleared her throat, wanting to give her a small boost.

"It's a very pretty shade of green." She said softly, "Makes your hair really stand out."

"Thank you." Julia let out a girlish giggle, "I like your t-shirt. 'Depeche Mode' is a pretty good band."

Rochelle chuckled in response but was cut off when she heard Nick sigh with irritation ahead of them. She set her gaze on the back of his head and shot him a rather frightening glare before returning her attention to the road ahead. Coach was climbing over the railing beside them, and he turned to help both ladies climb over. Even though he knew they were more than capable, he still felt it was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"Thanks, Coach." Rochelle said sweetly, "We'll head down here and see if there's anything useful in that truck."

"Be careful." Coach said with a sincere look, "You girls watch out for each other. We'll meet you up there."

He pointed towards the other end of the road where some infected were just stumbling around, minding their own business. Nick, Ellis and Coach headed towards their destination, while Rochelle and Julia cautiously approached the stationary truck. Their hearts were in their mouths, but both women were determined to show that they were brave enough and capable of venturing off on their own. Somehow, both of them felt the need to prove that.

"I'll check the back." Rochelle said quietly, "I'll holler if I need anything. You wanna check the cab?"

"Sure." Julia said quietly, "I'll call you if I need you."

"Okay." Rochelle replied, moving towards the rear of the truck.

Julia climbed up, wincing at the pain in her arms as she tried to open the door of the truck's cab. She could hear the gunfire at the other end of the street as the men took out the zombies that were around there, but she tried to ignore it as she leant inside the cab to look for anything useful. She spotted some pain relief pills in a bottle in the centre console and as she looked behind the driver's seat, she also found a black and blue sports bag.

"Bingo..." She breathed, reaching down to pick it up.

Sitting it on the seat, she looked inside the bag to see if there was anything useful that she could take as well. It was empty apart from a high visibility jacket, which she took out and laid carefully on the passenger seat opposite. She heard Rochelle's footsteps as the pink-clad woman made her way towards the driver door, and she carefully started to ease her way out of the cab.

"I found a bag." She said with a triumphant smile, "I'll hang on to it for now until we can find some other use for it."

Rochelle smiled warmly at the younger woman, almost in a playful manner before she produced a very menacing looking machete from behind her back, waggling her eyebrows at Julia in what could only be described as a means of expressing her delight at her discovery.

"Girl, I don't know who was driving this truck, but he or she must've been super paranoid!" She laughed, waving it around experimentally.

Julia laughed as well, easing herself down from the truck's cab. The two women set off walking towards the men, who were waiting patiently for them by a large dumpster. Nick was standing with his arms folded, his resting bitch face ever-present, while Coach and Ellis seemed at least happy to see them both. Rochelle showed the guys the machete, earning a compliment from Ellis and a rather dark laugh from Coach.

"You find anything useful, Julia?" Nick asked, testing her name on his lips for the first time.

"I found a sports duffel." She replied quietly, "I'm happy to carry it for now until we need it. It's not heavy."

"Very good." Coach said with a smile, "Now, we'd better climb up here and see what's on the other side. Ladies first."

Nick rolled his eyes again as Coach stepped aside to let Rochelle and Julia climb up onto the dumpster first. Nick followed them next, then Coach and then Ellis, who was the last to drop down on the other side. Again, they were only confronted with a few zombies, who were aimlessly stumbling on some concrete steps nearby which led to another building, which the group would no doubt have to go through.

"We got this." Rochelle said with narrowed eyes, raising her machete, "Get your crowbar ready, Jules."

Julia put her submachine gun in her duffel bag and retrieved her crowbar, gripping it tightly in her hands. She still wasn't used to killing infected, but she was more used to beating them with the crowbar than shooting them. The two women approached the infected if a little cautiously. The men watched Rochelle point to the top, and Julia suddenly broke into a run, her short copper curls bouncing as she hopped up the steps and swung her crowbar into the head of the first zombie she came across. It collapsed to the floor, the crowbar still stuck in its head, which she pried out quickly to attack the next one. Rochelle was busy pinning the head of the zombie she'd taken out to the floor, trying to now pry her machete from its skull.

A growl coming from the right of her caught Julia's attention. It was one that she recognised. The same one that she'd heard when she saw that poor woman... That poor woman... The door to the building next to the girls suddenly shook as something pounded on it, and Rochelle looked up warily as she finally freed her machete from the skull of the infected person she'd just killed.

"That sounds like one of those Hunters..." She murmured, waving Julia closer to her, "Come over here... Get out your gun..."

Rochelle raised her submachine gun while Julia retrieved her Magnum, aiming at the door as she slowly backed towards her comrade who was waving at the men to join them. Thankfully, they understood that something wasn't right, and as the door burst open, they broke into a run towards the women.

The second that she spied the creature's hooded head, Julia opened fire with her Magnum. After seeing what these things were capable of, she wasn't prepared to suffer the same fate as... No... She didn't want to think about what happened back at the hotel. As the Hunter, as Rochelle had called it, took a hit, it yelped and flew out of sight. The girls didn't move an inch, and as the boys reached them, they listened out again as the Hunter started to growl, clearly returning to try and claim one of them as its prey. The second it appeared again, it was sprayed with bullets, letting out one more cry before it collapsed in a heap by the door, dead. This time, it hadn't had the chance to get away from them or attack any of them.

Julia let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding in, and suddenly she saw a flash of white as Nick walked past her. He knelt by the hooded figure, grabbing it by the hood and pulling its head up to look at it. He turned back to the young woman with a half smile, showing her the sizeable hole near the centre of its head.

"Nice shot, Raggedy-Anne." He said with a grin, "I assume that wasn't your first time shooting a Magnum."

"I've been to the odd shooting range in my time." Julia replied sheepishly, "At my dad's insistence. Certainly not mine... Did I really kill it?"

Nick huffed out a laugh, dropping the creature's head back to the ground before getting to his feet, shaking his head in near disbelief. He never believed in a million years that Julia would've been able to shoot at all, never mind actually getting a headshot on something like a Hunter. Perhaps it was just a fluke, but part of him hoped it wasn't. Someone with some ability to aim their weapon properly was better than someone getting a good shot by accident.

"You killed it alright." Nick said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet as he looked back up at her, "Jesus..."

Shaking his head again as he looked down at the corpse, Nick used his foot to shove the Hunter out of the way, allowing the rest of the group to enter the building after him. Sticking to her rule of closing doors behind her, Julia did just that, casting the space into darkness again. Coach began towards a flight of stairs that were to the left of them, and the others wordlessly followed, making a neat line as they headed towards the upper floor. They found a pair of tables lined up in the upstairs part of the building and upon one of them was a messy pile of ammunition.

"Let's take this opportunity to stock up on ammo..." Coach said quietly, holding a hand out to Julia, "Y'mind if I take your bag, Julia?"

Julia didn't answer. She just took the bag off and handed it to the older man, standing awkwardly by Nick, who slipped past her, once again invading her personal space. She held her breath as he passed her, feeling that same pang of anxiety that she would feel whenever someone else would get too close to her like that without her permission. She didn't notice Rochelle watching her from the far wall, where she'd just checked a first aid cupboard which had turned out to be empty.

"Hey, Jules... You shot that Hunter up real good." Ellis said with a laugh, "I'm glad we found ya now. You're pretty darn good with a gun."

"Oh, I'm not that good. It was just a lucky shot." Julia said, trying not to blush at the compliment, "I've only ever shot paper targets before."

"Better than having no experience at all." Nick said, reloading his submachine gun as Coach handed Ellis some shotgun shells.

He couldn't believe she'd proved him wrong. Perhaps she wasn't as hopeless as he'd thought initially. Whatever. It didn't really matter anyway. The sooner they got evacuated, the sooner he could be his usual self, drifting from place to place to make money, alone, without anyone else to worry about.

"Alright, guys. We're not far from the gun store, or the mall." Coach said quietly, watching the girls reload their weapons before handing the bag back to Julia, "Let's go."

Julia slipped the bag back over her shoulder, and as Coach led the way out of the building, she joined the back of the group, pausing on the way out to close the door behind them.

~ To Be Continued ~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for reading so far!