A/N: So. New chapter is up.
Aha, sorry for any grammar mistakes and what not.
Yeah, no beta yet. ;) Hopefully it won't pull too many of you out of the story.
I tried to be a little bit more descriptive, but yeah, my visual scenery can never match anything I try and type.
Oh. This chapter design is slightly based on the actual map? lol I forget a lot of places so it's just kind of there sometimes and then sometimes not?
You get what I'm saying?
Also, I've got this crazy one-shotish story in my head with the movie ZombieLand. But instead of those characters I'd do
a rendition of it with the Left 4 Dead 2 cast. Anyone interested? o-o;
Jeezie Creezie.
Disclaimer: The Left 4 Dead crew belong to Valve, not me.
------------------------------------------------------------------Hard Rain----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Did I ever tell you guys about the one time me an' Keith filled water balloons with our own-"
"Ellis. Is now the time?"
"Okay." Ellis resigned and put both of his hands up in front of him in a mock surrender. He seemed to get used to everyone cutting him off at the good parts of his stories. Oh well, their loss.
Getting ready to open the safe room door Nick peered out the bars, "I guess you should think about becoming a weather woman Rochelle, because it's starting to rain."
Reloading their guns real quick they all stepped out of the safe room and into the open. The sky was a dark gray as a light drizzle made its way to each of them. The rain was a little chilly at first, but the warmer temperature of the air kept them all from getting too cold. Thank goodness for the southern climate. The lack of moans and groans made the group extra cautious as they made their way forwards.
Abandoned trucks and cement cylinders littered the surrounding area along with a few factory buildings, but without anyone with a high enough IQ and the drive to keep them up to date, the factories seemed to be a little worn down. As they traveled ahead, their feet sank into the softening earth leaving behind footprints as they ran along to their destination. The gas station.
"So, we've got to go through the sugar mill to get to the gas? Seems a little ridiculous to me. They should've built that gas station closer to the main road instead of a couple miles into the middle of nowhere. Damn hicks for bringing the gas all the way back here!" Rochelle sighed and put her free hand on her forehead. "Oh jeez! No offense to you El. You'd probably of done a better job then them anyways."
The young mechanic gave a dismissive wave before putting his index finger to his lips. The group stopped walking as they listened to the sound of a distant coughing.
"It's one of them smoker things isn't it?" Coach frowned and glared around. Ellis gave a nod before shivering a little at the memory of the slippery tongue winding itself around him, letting it's saliva seep into his clothes and skin before their escape to the elevator. Ew. He suddenly wished he hadn't of gotten that memory because he then felt like he was wrapped in a phantom tongue binding. He frowned, horribly displeased with the thought.
Nick glanced over at Ellis as he saw the bright man shiver. Poor kid had bad memories with just about every evolving infected they'd happened to of come across.
"Well we're bait just standing here. Let's keep moving." Swinging his red guitar onto his shoulder, Nick carried on, inwardly upset that his expensive shoes were getting ruined in this brown muck.
Ellis dashed to keep up, mud splattering the bottoms of his pants as his feet picked up. Like hell he was going to get left being, not like earlier, screw that.
Rochelle rolled her eyes, boys will be boys. She glanced back to Coach, who was still glancing around the rundown area, trying to find that sneaky coughing bastard. She was about to call out to him but it happened faster than a snakebite. Before she even uttered a sound the reporter watched as the larger man was pulled back with a long, slimy appendage.
"This shit ain't good! Get this thing off of me!" Coach tried breaking the tongue off with brute strength, having dropped his gun in the after shock of being grabbed, but his efforts had no effect. He continued to struggle as a few zombie-fied construction workers dashed out. Their eyes were a milky white while their faces were distorted with an unexplainable rage. The fluorescent vests shined in the flashlight of Rachelle's gun, distracting her for a split second before she screamed for the two that had ran ahead. What shitty timing they had.
"Guys! I need some help! Smokers got Coach!"
She dashed to Coach's discarded gun, scooping it up and shooting her pistol at the workers who were currently pounding their fists on her comrade. By no means were her shots perfect, but she did manage to shoot the stray workers enough that they soon fell to the ground, never to rage again. She picked up her pace as Coach grew closer to the gruesome looking infected who was emitting a cloud of green, his bubbled face oozed the stuff out every few seconds.
"Oh no you don't!" Rochelle dashed up to the creature and gave it a clean shot to the head. The smoker deflated in an instant after the bullet went through where its brain used to be, a giant smoke screen was left being. The two survivors started to cough as they were subjected to inhaling the nasty residue of what once was a special infected. Coach pulled himself up from his knees. Damn, he was too old to be doing this shit.
"Nick! I think I heard Ro' say she needed something. We should go back and see what's up." The mechanic stopped in his tracks, looking back to see if he could see his other teammates. He could barely hear what she had said with the sudden rumble of thunder, but he was sure it had to be something important for her to raise her voice like that.
"They should've kept up. It's their loss." Nick continued to walk forward sinking a little more with each step. You've got to look out for yourself, if you don't...who will? The rain lightened a bit as he stopped. "Goddammit." Not hearing the squishing steps he'd previously heard as they were walking, he turned around. His bloodied and scuffed suit looked seemingly new against the brown and green muck surrounding the area. The mechanic was glaring at him, what the hell?
"You're a hypocrite. Ya' know that? You came back for me, fed me some bullshit about staying together to survive and you were just gonna leave our teammates for dead, weren't you? You're an asshole." Ellis glared and turned tail, jogging back the direction they came from.
"Well I'll be damned. I just got told off." He smirked. Nick wasn't sure to be offended or honored but either way that kid had spunk. He liked that in a person. Picking up his pace, he followed Ellis back towards Coach and Rochelle. He was just about to turn the corner, barely catching a glimpse of the yellow stained back of Ellis, when suddenly a heavy weight crashed onto his back. His went head first into the mud, his guitar sprawled a few feet away from him.
The sting of claws digging into his back brought him out of his sudden daze. Nick pulled his head up from the mud, gasping for air. He winced and tried to fight the hooded figure off of his back before saying 'fuck it' and screaming for help. With his vision cloudy he scraped at the ground, dirt slipping beneath his nails as he gasped for help again. Should've stayed together. The creature continued to claw at his back with a vicious ferocity, grinning in satisfaction.
What seemed like hours of pain and torture were in reality only a few deadly seconds. He groaned as he felt the weight lifted. He rolled his head to his right to see Ellis on top of the hunter, shooting a few shots into its growling head before the creature lay twitching momentarily then going completely limp. Nick gave a weak smile as he watched Ellis spit on the deceased hunter before he grabbed the fallen guitar and strapped it to his back along with his machete. He jumped over to Nick and helped him up out of the mud.
"Gee, I leave you alone for a second and you go and get yourself jumped on. C'mon, I ain't leavin you here but you gotta get up." Ellis pulled Nick to his feet, watching as the older man wavered a little bit before standing completely still. His back hurt so incredibly bad, the sting made him wince with even the slightest movement of his body.
The mechanic looked over the torn up material of his teammates back. The scratches on his back ran deep each and every way, leaving scraps of material falling off or completely gone. Blood seemed to ooze from every wound creating a dark red patch on the pieces of suit that were still there.
"That looks real bad Nick. Here let me patch you up." Ellis started to pull out his first-aid kit but Nick put his hand on the red back and gave a small push.
"Thanks, but not here. Its too open. Let's go back and get Coach and Ro before we find somewhere dry to sit for a bit."
"Well, alright. But at least let me help you, okay?" Ellis grabbed Nicks left arm and lightly placed it around his shoulders before wrapping his right arm behind the tattered suit, earning a hiss, then helping the conman move towards their teammates.
"Speak of the devils," Coach said to Rochelle as they watched a limping Nick be assisted by Ellis, who decidedly gave a small salute.
"Where the hell were you guys?! I had to fight off the infected AND save Coach before he got molested too much!"
The ex college football player glared as Rochelle mentioned the word molested. It's not like the thing touched him inappropriately, as she made it sound.
"Sorry guys. We had a little trouble ourselves." Ellis smiled and didn't bother to mention that Nick almost left them behind.
"Alright, lets' stay together this time, okay?" Rochelle glared at the conman real quick before giving Ellis a smile in return.
"If it's any help, I saw a trailer that we could take a rest in a few yards up and around the corner." Nick paid no heed to the glare the reporter gave him, but instead winced as the rain continued to wash his wounds free of dirt and soak the other members as well.
"Then lets get the hell working on that! I ain't getting attacked like that again." Coach gave a snort of distaste before walking ahead, "As long as we keep to a group of two, even if we get separated, we'll still have a better chance of survival."
Taking the hint Rochelle gave one last glare to Nick and walked up to keep an eye of Coach. The last thing she needed was losing a teammate to the infected and lowering their chance of survival.
"I think she likes you Nick." Ellis smiled again and gave a chuckle as they turned to follow the pair in front of them.
"Yeah, like a dolphin likes a shark." He rolled his eyes and winced again. Feeling light headed he wobbled a bit, but felt Ellis tighten his grip trying to keep him steady. He wasn't sure if what he felt was blood trickling down his back or just the rain falling, but either way it felt a little relieving.
"C'mon buddy. You'll make it, just a little more and I'll heal ya up, okay?"
Nick nodded. He was tougher than this. He'd have no problem surviving through this and starting life over again somewhere new. Hell, who knows. Maybe he'd write a book and make a million dollars when the economy came to be one again. His head fell back before rolling over onto Ellis' shoulder. He didn't feel so well, but it was warm. The body heat coming from Ellis gave him the slightest comfort, the knowledge that he could still feel something. He was alive. So warm.
"You're warm," was the simple statement that stumbled from his mouth. He glanced up just in time to see a faint color show itself on the mechanics baby-ish face. He smirked before trying to focus on walking instead of making Ellis carry all of his weight.
"Well, uh, my momma always told me I was hot blooded. Maybe it was hot headed?" He scratched his cheek with his free index finger. He wasn't sure why he got so flustered at such a simple utterance of words, but lost the train of thought as he saw Coach and Rochelle enter a lightly lit trailer.
"There's weapons in here!"
Coach peeked his head out of the doorway, "You need help boy?"
Ellis smiled and shook his head, helping Nick into the trailer as the dark clouds loomed behind them, the rain continuing to fall.