I don't own Left 4 Dead

This is supposed to be mainly in Nick's POV but is written in third person...here we go.

Chapter 2: Bitter Luck

The flames licked off of the broken exterior of the crashed helicopter, the only thing travelling through the air was the vile smell of flesh burning. There were a couple of trails of smudged blood along the ground, leading to an abandoned train cart.

"Dang, Nick what did ya have to go and shot the pilot for?" the thick Sothern accent emerged from the young man as he adjusted his blue tow truck hat.

"I shot a zombie. He was a zombie, Ellis. He must have gotten bitten before he picked us up" came the pessimistic voice from the man in the once white suit, he brushed himself off and stood up.

"That's true. If I had to pick a low point in the flight, it would probably be when he stopped flying the chopper and...attacked us. Anyone know where we are?" the darker skinned woman quickly spoke.

"Well, looks like we're in some sort of a forest or swamp" a larger, dark skinned man breathed out as he attended to his bleeding wound.

Nick rolled his eyes and stepped out of the trains cart,

"Just fucking wonderful" he murmured as the other three survivors climbed, standing directly behind him.

"Well better start somewhere" Rochelle sighed, none of them were keen on moving through the swamp but it was just another obstacle they had to get past.

The ground beneath them was wet, they had to literally drag their feet through the mud just to move from house to house in search of supplies. They hadn't even made it into the swamp and already the complaining began.

"Shit how big is this place, we are never going to get out" Nick growled

"Looks like there is nothing here but some frying pans and dishwashing liquid" Rochelle sighed as she emerged from the fifth empty house they had entered.

Rochelle checked her assault rifle, her brows furrowing together as she realized she was running out of ammo.

"We can't keep going like this, we should find a safe house soon" her exhaustion in her voice was easy to pick out.

"Couldn't agree with your more, we haven't seen zombies for miles, we should use that as an advantage to get to the next safe house quickly" Coach replied as he began checking the ammo on his weapon.

"I'll be waiting there for you Nick..."

Nick suddenly span around his eyes jolting in different directions

"Did you guys just here that?" he questioned,

"Uh...hear what?" Ellis gazed around, hearing nothing but the frogs croaking in the distance.

"You better keep moving, their coming..."

"There it was again, there was a voice, just now" Nick continued, he glanced back at the other three survivors who were now just staring at him in confusion.

"I think Nick's going a bit crazy" Ellis whispered, a little too loudly

"I'm not going crazy there was just a-"Nick purposely stopped himself as hundreds of cries of an oncoming horde rang through their ears.

"Here, we go" Rochelle looked towards the direction from where the noise was coming from, her assault rifle held tightly in her hands.

"You'll make it, I know you will Nick"

Nick muttered something beneath his breath, choosing to ignore the voice that he could only somehow hear.

"Get ready people" Coach bellowed,

The cries got louder and louder, hundreds of footsteps now ran through the mud. Ellis caught the first glimpse of the zombie hoard and instinctively began shooting, however the blood from the dying zombie seemed to attract more and soon it seemed like an endless wave of them.

The zombies cluttered in close, clenching their teeth as blood oozed down their pale mouths, some even began to gnaw at others just to try and make it through to the group of survivors. They clawed and coughed blood onto the ground and with every zombie dead another seemed to appear. The thirst for blood, the thirst for fresh meat seemed to be the only thought the zombies had.

Rochelle through her assault rifle angrily to the ground as the small click from the gun indicated it was out of ammo, pulling out her fire axe she began hacking through the zombies, sinking the deadly fire axe into the skin of each one.

Soon enough everyone had resorted to melee weapons of their choice, making it harder to kill zombies at a further distance. Nick blinked rapidly, he had a pounding headache from the crash, he had just run out of ammo and he was hearing voices.

Suddenly a slithery, wet tongue grabbed his white suit, constricting his body as he was yanked inch by inch to a hidden area while the rest of the group was too distracted with the horde.

"S-Smoke...Smoker" the words were cut off as the tongue tightened around his neck, he began cough up the forced saliva in his mouth.

Everything seemed to dull, for a moment he heard Rochelle's voice yell and the cries of the hoard seemed to die down. Maybe it was because he was dying. Nick began to close his eyes, his body already unwilling to fight anymore.

Just going to sleep for a bit.

He closed his eyes and let his body relax...just close your eyfes and it will all be over..

...

Rochelle took a step back from the horde, they were overwhelming the entire group,

"There shouldn't be so many" Coach's words came with heavy gasps, the man was losing his breath.

Rochelle glanced around, Nick was gone, she yelled out his name once but the cries of infected bellowed over her voice. Hacking a few infected back she heard a faint choking noise

"S-smoker" it was quiet but she would recognize that voice anywhere.

Pushing past Ellis who, out of all of them, was having the most fun killing off the horde, and tried to spot Nick in between the bushes where she had hoped he was. She caught a glimpse of his white suit and swiftly moved forward, sinking her fire axe into the smoker's head, forcing it to release Nick. A green cloud of smoke lifted as Rochelle bent down, pulling the tongue off of Nick she shook his body weakly.

"Nick!" her raspy voice cut off in between coughs from the green mist the smoker had left behind.

"I think that's the last one" Coach breathed out, placing his hands on his knees as he took in a few deep breaths.

"Guys over here!" Rochelle shouted using whatever strength remained and pulled Nick along the floor over to them.

"What happened?" Ellis bent down next to Rochelle and proceeded to shake Nick in order to hopefully wake the con-man.

"Smoker got him" Rochelle's voice shook as she tried to find a pulse on the man.

"Oh please lord may Nick be alright" Coach bent down, examining him.

Ellis frowned, grabbing Nick's shoulders he shook the man again, this time a little bit more roughly

"Come on Nick, WAKE UP!" Ellis growled, his voice choking slightly.

Rochelle's eyes dulled, her fingers slipped from his Nick as they were unable to find a pulse.

"Listen, maybe we can carry him to the safe room, there may be medical supplies there" Coach assured the other two.

"I can't even find a pulse" Rochelle stood up

"Coach is right, maybe we can find a defibrillator or somethin' I'll help carry" Ellis shifted his arm under the man pulling his body forward so that all of Nick's weight was on him.

"What if we get attacked again?"

"Then we will deal with it Rochelle, we're a family, we stick together and we ain't leaving Nick behind. We've come too far" Coach helped Ellis carry the man as they headed towards a small town.

"We just have to have hope" he continued.

The three of them keep glancing at Nick, hoping the man would just open his eyes and make some cynical remark about the fact they were carrying him. Rochelle had stayed quiet as they made their way onto the nearby ferry, only a few stumbling infected bothered their travels.

"Ya know, Nick's gonna be real made that we are about to drag him through a swamp" Ellis chuckled as they all stepped off the ferry, examining the new surroundings.

Rochelle smiled weakly, she knew Ellis was just trying to lighten the mood and he was good at doing it. Yet, this time it didn't work on her, Rochelle didn't understand why she was so worked over at Nick's status. He was going to be alright. It would have taken allot more to kill a man like Nick.

"Woops, shit, pick him up"

Rochelle turned around to see Nick almost half submerged in swap water, she raised an eyebrow at Ellis who shrugged.

...

"He just slipped, sorry" a childish grin reappearing on his face.

"Uggh, stop shocking me!" Nick's lungs suddenly gulped in all the air they could at one time, making the man choke on his own saliva. He sat up coughing.

"Nick? Hello?" the female voice rang through his ears,

Reluctantly opening his eyes he found Rochelle hovering over him as he lay on the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" he groaned, his headache still hadn't left him.

"Well, we were kicking those zombie's ass, then yew got pulled away by one of 'em smokers and Rochelle wanted to help but yew were already unconsciousness so-"

"Jesus Ellis, are you trying to aggravate my headache?" Nick snapped, trying to sit his body up.

Ellis shrugged his shoulders and moved away,

"Here take these" Rochelle pulled out the small white container of pills,

Nick groaned but decided he need them more right now, she unscrewed the cap and carelessly shoved the pills down his throat.

"We kind of dragged you along, after we killed the horde we had to move fast, taking on another horde would've had killed us. We found a defibrillator and managed to revive you." Rochelle helped the con-man up to his feet as he glanced around at his new surroundings.

"There should be a safe house around here, we made it across the boat and through the swamp" Coach interrupted.

"Wait, wait you mean you dragged me through a swamp? Why the hell didn't you just wake me up?" Nick frowned.

"We tried, you just didn't wake up, you were dead...sort of" Ellis replied.

"Really, guys, you probably just ruined my suit!"

"You mean the one with zombie brains all over it? That one?" Rochelle laughed, she was just glad he was being himself again. Nick never seemed to take death all that well.

"Brains come out, swamp water doesn't..."Nick stopped once he received a few eerie glares from everyone else

"Don't ask me how I know that" he finished, turning away.

"Well we don't have all day, let's find that safe house" Coach began walking, Ellis quickly following.

"Nick...you sure you're okay?" Rochelle almost whispered to the man,

He managed a smile

"Yea, I'm fine Ro. Thanks" he replied, following Ellis and Coach.

Nick limped slightly as he found his muscles tighten, he figured the smoker must have been constricting him tightly on one of his legs.

"Hey guys, I was thinkin'...just been thinkin' what we all gonna do after this is all over?" Ellis finally spoke.

"Hopefully get back to our normal lives" Rochelle assured the man

"Oh sure, if some of us had normal lives to begin with" Nick mumbled beneath his breath.

"I know I'm going to go straight for the nearest burger tank, get me two huge burgers and eat them all to myself...mmmmhmmm" Coach chuckled.

"What about you Ellis, what are your plans?" Rochelle asked inquisitively,

The young man lightened up immediately.

"I was thinkin, I was gonna find that beautiful Zoey girl and her and I are gonna get married!" a childish grind formed on his face.

Nick rolled his eyes,

Rochelle giggled

"I really wish they would have come with us though..." her voice faded

"Just admit it, you wanted to spend time with that greasy, vest wearing ape" Nick retorted.

Rochelle frowned

"His name is Francis, you're just jealous".

"Jealous of what sweetheart? That man smelt like an underground sewer" Nick smirked, seeing Rochelle's expression anger

"Well he was better looking than you" she snapped back.

Nick chuckled something beneath his breath and turned away,

Rochelle laughed

"See you are jealous, cos I won't be with you to 'repopulate' the earth' Rochelle continued,

Nick gazed back at her

"You heard that-"

"Yea when I was down that's what you said, There goes repopulating the earth" she tried to mock his voice.

"Hey I thought you were dead but if you're volunteering..." Nick wiggled his eyebrows as a joke,

Rochelle just turned away in disgust but also to hide a faint tint of red creeping on her face.

"Safe house ahead" Ellis's voice echoed as the young man ran up into the small bunker, breaking the awkward silence that fell on Rochelle and Nick.

"Finally" Nick breathed out as they all slumped into the safe house, slamming the large door shut.

"Home sweet home...for now"

"That's what you think Nick, just you wait, I can show you what home really is"