Chapter 3 is finally here, mostly this one is a character building chapter, plus a little bit of set-up to lead into the next one. I won't be repeating text often like I've done in these first three, these instances were purely for character introduction. Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own L4D 1&2, only my original characters.

Jason Mitchell's PoV

I slept about as well as usual last night, and finally at about 0300 I couldn't even try anymore. I could hear infected moving around outside moaning and shambling about but I ignored them. No use trying to kill things that couldn't reach me and end up wasting bullets if they got out of sight. Besides, shooting a gun in here wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had and I was a little surprised my ears weren't still ringing after last night.

I should have been saving my energy for the rest of the day but I still ran through my morning workout. You get used to a routine and it's just easier to keep it going I guess, probably be doing that until the day I die. With that done I went and found a towel that was almost clean and dried myself off. I really wished I could take a shower and a shave, I was filthy, I could smell myself every time I made a move and my face itched like crazy. I had to get a razor and find someplace that had running water. There were a few other things I badly needed too, I still hadn't found batteries for my flashlight and after yesterday I desperately needed to replace my rifle.

I found a notepad and a pen in one of the drawers and started jotting down the things I would need to find, then once that was done I folded the paper and stuck it in one of my pockets. If the world was still normal and hadn't gone to shit I'd probably have more than a few cashiers wondering what the hell I was doing with a list like this. It definitely wasn't your average idiot's shopping list for sure. I would have liked to wash my clothes too, but that was another thing that had to wait until some other time. I wasn't about to be waiting around buck ass naked in a Laundromat while I waited for my clothes at the best of times, and this wasn't the best of times. I'd probably die before I even got my clothes into a washer. Although I didn't know what use clean clothes would be anyway if I couldn't shower.

I picked up one of the cans I'd managed to fit into my pockets last night and turned it in my hands, then set it down and picked up another. Nothing I had right now was a particularly good breakfast, but I decided that pea soup was less ideal than usual. That left three others, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of spinach, and a can of… What was that anyway? The label was missing and there was nothing to indicate what it might be. I decided to take a chance and hope it wouldn't be a disaster. I dug through one of the drawers under the counter and found a can opener and went to work.

A sweet smell escaped when the first bit of juice started to seep through the hole I made in the lid and I sped up. I didn't know what it was, but the smell told me that it had to be fruit of some kind. I pulled the lid off. Peaches. Sliced peaches. At that point I was ready to stay in the safehouse for a day or two because I didn't have anything to put them in and there was a refrigerator in here. I would just find a store or something and shave there, if I could find razors. Considering that this section of the city seemed to have not been completely cleared by scavengers though I should be alright. I put some of the peaches in a bowl then routed through the cupboards until I found some oatmeal. I added a bit of oatmeal then set up the burner and put it on to heat.

I just moved the bowl off the burner when there was a loud bang and I turned around to see the infected from yesterday looking in the window. I grabbed my sidearm and aimed it at the creature then looked down at the floor and saw a can lying there rolling. Apparently the infected had carted a can of something from somewhere and decided to drop it through the window on the safehouse door. I kept my weapon trained on it as I put my foot on the can and rolled it to where I could pick it up. When I did that I noticed that the infected watched the can. I put my weapon down on the table and turned the can to see what was in it, then I looked back at the infected to see if it—well I should call her she I suppose, was still watching. She was watching alright, she was focusing on the can and turning her whole head to watch every direction I moved it in.

The door rattled as the dog that followed her around jumped up and placed his paws on the window frame beside her and poked his nose in through the bars. There was a squeal of claws on metal and the infected let go of the door, landing with a thump on the ground outside. The dog whined a little, drooled over the window frame, then got down himself. There was a sound of scampering feet for a few minutes, then I didn't hear anything more for a while.

The infected dragged back three more cans and dropped them through the window and I finally got tired of the noise. I opened the door and waited for her to get back and sure enough about five minutes later she came back and put a can on the floor then rolled it toward me. I didn't expect that, though I probably shouldn't have been surprised by anything at that point, but I picked it up anyway. She had somehow managed to find a can of chunk beef. I couldn't figure out how the hell she managed to carry the thing, I doubted she'd had it in her hands, but at the same time she wasn't wearing more than a pair of dirty shorts and a tattered tank top. So how did she carry it? She was watching the can again, every time I moved it her eyes followed.

"Want this?" I asked her and held it up.

She looked completely confused. Her weird little ears twitched and pointed forward slightly, probably as much as they could, and she tilted her head to the side staring hard. The dog wasn't confused in the slightest, he came right over and licked my hand whining the whole time and drooling. I petted him and quickly discovered how starved the poor thing was.

"Ok, but I'm no cook, so you two asked for this," I told them.

The infected tilted her head the other direction in response while I got the can opener again. I heard movement and then turned to see her gone. Well she wouldn't be gone for long, she proved that yesterday. Damned if I knew why though, most infected are mindless eating machines. I hunted around and finally found two more bowls to put the meat into then I set one of the bowls on the burner. Maybe if I kept her and the dog fed she wouldn't attack me. I really would rather have not had her following me around, but after yesterday I also knew that I couldn't keep going on my own the way I was if I wanted to make it to the next evac center. I still wasn't completely sure I wanted to, but what I wanted now didn't matter. I made a promise and I wasn't about to break it, even if the guy I made that promise to was dead.

Sometime later I heard a scraping sound and I turn toward the door to see the infected had returned. She had one of the straps to my bag in her mouth and was determinedly trying to drag it into the safehouse. I could hear her growling with the effort and then she gave one giant tug, the bag bounced over the edge of the floor and she fell flat on her rear. She looked so embarrassed that I almost laughed, but I didn't know how she would react to that or even if she would react to it. She looked up at me and dropped the strap, then sat there staring at me.

"Shit, you're like what would happen if some weirdo had babies—kittens—kit-babies? With a cat."

Her face contorted and she worked her mouth, then she scrunched up her nose and said, "Sh… Sh-i… Sh-i-it..?"

That did it, there I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and I was teaching one of the damn things to talk, it was absurd. I was pretty sure I was officially a goner at that point, but all I could do was laugh. She just stared at me, head tilting from side to side as if she was trying to understand and it only made me laugh harder before I finally managed to stop.

"Yeah, shit," I told her.

More head tilting, but I just shook my head and put the scattered cans of food back in my bag. She watched and it occurred to me that for some reason everything I did interested the little monster greatly.

"I can't carry this," I told her.

"Errk?" More head tilting.

"Nope," I said. She looked confused but apparently gave up on figuring out what I was saying. She started in my direction and of course months of conditioning made me reach for my gun. She was still watching, she made another funny noise and froze. I felt a little bad for scaring her, but better to have her scared than for me to end up being her next meal.

"Guess you don't know too many words huh?" I asked.

I pulled the first bowl off the burner and set it aside to cool while I warmed up the other a tiny bit. The dog probably wouldn't care, in reality she might not either, but I figured I might as well warm it up. She tilted her head and I nodded.

"Didn't think so." I took the second bowl off the burner then put them both down on the floor. "Alright, here you go," I said, "I suppose if you and your giant dog are going to follow me around I may as well feed you."

I was surprised yet again when the infected actually picked the bowl up and tilted it pull the meat out over the edge with her tongue. She also used one single claw to stab stubborn bits and put them in her mouth. I supposed if she hadn't been so freakish looking she might have been cute in a puppy or kitten sort of way.

When I first saw her I thought the girl's skin had turned grey, but now I finally had time to get a decent look at her I discovered that wasn't the case. It wasn't her skin, she had a layer of short fine hair all over that was thick enough to be fur and it was giving her a grey tinge. The hair on top of her head looked like it used to be red at some point but now it was grey too and it wasn't long anymore if it had been to begin with. It was shorter in back than it was in front, with a fluffy bunch of hair that drooped over her eyes and which she was constantly tossing out of her face. She had pale blue eyes with slit pupils like a cat's, and then when she finished eating and started inspecting the safehouse I had to look twice. She had a thin tail poking out the bottom of her shorts that would have hung to about mid calf if she'd stood up. Not that I expected her to do that, her legs were shaped oddly enough that it probably would have been difficult, and her feet were shaped like the back paws on a dog or cat. More like a cat I supposed when I looked closer and saw that the claws were clearly retractable.

I shook my head. The universe had sure played a shit show of a joke on me this time, no doubt about that. What do you do with a human who's no longer a human, but a cat that isn't a cat?

I looked at the dog and wondered again why it was following the infected around, by all rights they should have at least fought. Normally a dog will sense when something is wrong and they won't go near something like this. And yet, this one stuck to the infected like glue. I ruffled his mane and he shook, creating a faint jingling sound. So he did have a collar. I dug through the tangled fur and finally found the tags. There was a rabies tag from a vet's office I wasn't familiar with, a tag signifying he had a microchip, and two others. One was a heart shaped tag with the dog's name, Atlas, and the other one had a man's name and an address on it. A Maine address no less. I wondered how the hell he got down here. There was no answer that I could find, unless the guy who owned the dog had been down here on vacation or something when the virus hit. If that was the case then Atlas' owner was probably dead.

I sighed and stretched, then I put my undershirt and the top of my uniform back on. Man I needed to wash this stuff, everything was stained and re-stained with dried blood and other less pleasant things, and it smelled awful. It certainly wasn't a surprise that the infected was able to follow me, all she had to do was breathe a little deeper than normal. When I thought about that though I supposed I was lucky it was just this little freak and not something else that decided to trail me. At least this one apparently wasn't interested in having me for her next meal.

I thought about it for a minute or two then I finally decided to put the burner and two or three cans of food in my pockets. I planned to come back to this safehouse and stay at least one more night, but that didn't always mean anything. If there were too many special infected around like chargers or tanks then I might have to hide in a different one until the nuisance got bored and left me alone but no matter what I would still need to eat. So would the infected and the dog. I picked up the empty bowls and rinsed them out in the tiny sink, then put them in my pockets as well.

I headed out the door but neither the infected nor the dog followed just then. Maybe I chased her a few too many times and she was afraid of me now. I didn't think that was exactly a bad thing, but I knew she would follow regardless and I would feel better if I could see her.

"Well, come on!" I hollered, and was met with what normally was probably 200 pounds of dog blowing past me at full speed. He nearly dropped me on my ass. The infected was a little less sure and she didn't come near me, just followed at what she thought was a safe distance.

The first thing I needed to do was replace my rifle before I did anything else since I hadn't been able to find it yesterday, so I started looking around for a phone book. Avoiding residential areas meant I wouldn't find a house with weapons inside, so hopefully there would be a gun store or something close by. Even your average department store should have a somewhat decent supply of firearms and ammunition, but a dedicated gun shop was a bit better. It would have hunting rifles, tactical arms, and sometimes you could get novelty weapons as well. Not that I wanted a novelty weapon, but it was good to know where to get them.

I walked for several hours before finally finding a gas station convenience store but it was better than nothing. I rummaged around behind the counter for several minutes before finally finding a phone book. The nearest gun shop was about five blocks away and I couldn't even be sure that it was still there but I would have to try. The next nearest one was close to a mile away. I would rather not try to get to it if I didn't have to.

I wrote down the address for the gun shop on the back of my list of things to get, took down addresses for several other places, mostly department stores. I figured that if one was completely cleaned out I could still try others, and there was always the chance that one would have something another didn't.

"Alright you two, time to go," I called them as I walked out of the building, snagging a pack of batteries for my flashlight on the way. It took them a little bit, but soon they were both following me again, Atlas running around and sniffing everything he came to while the infected stayed a little nearer. She didn't seem to want to get more than ten or fifteen feet away, which was odd. As far as I knew there wasn't anything around that she really needed to be afraid of. Then again, there was plenty I needed to be afraid of and maybe that was her problem, though I wasn't sure why. Everything I'd seen from infected up to that point suggested that whatever humanity they had left was so drowned by pain that they weren't capable of anything like conscious thought. Something about this one must be different, either the virus completely burned itself out or her body had finally fought it off after whoever she'd been was gone and she mutated into…whatever she was now. Or maybe she was still sick and fighting it. That possibility was worse, it meant there was still a chance she might lose her shit and attack me. Being eaten alive by something that used to be human was definitely not the way I wanted to die.

Luckily there were not too many infected around right now, and I was more convinced than before that they were dying off. Yesterday must have been purely because of the car alarm. I would have to make sure I didn't go near any cars after that, or at least not touch them if I couldn't avoid going past them.

It didn't take long to get to the gun shop with so few infected around, but the shop wasn't as full as I hoped it would be. Still, there were a few good pieces left. I guess not everybody who came through looking for weapons knew all that much about firearms. There were two or three hunting rifles, some tactical rifles, even an M16. I started to pick it up, but then noticed something else poking out from under a bit of plaster that had fallen in from the ceiling. I tugged it out and found myself holding a PTR 91F. I looked back and forth between it and the M16 trying to decide which one to take. The problem was I had a decent supply of 5.56x45 ammunition but if I picked up the 91 I would have to find some 7.62x51 rounds. On the other hand, the larger round the 91 fired had better stopping power and it would probably take fewer rounds to put down a tank or an angry witch. I picked up the 91 and started searching the shop, there had to be ammunition for it here.

I searched the whole shop but only turned up two boxes of rounds for the 91. I didn't want to leave it though… That was when I noticed that the girl had apparently been watching me and begun rooting through the debris picking up anything that even remotely resembled a box of ammo and stacking them in the middle of the floor. I went and looked through them and found two more boxes of 7.62x51 rounds. Well, if nothing else at least she was helpful.

The next thing I decided to do was replace my sidearm, 9mm rounds are good enough for your average thug but the infected were different. If you didn't hit a vital organ that would see them bleeding out or at least incapacitated in seconds they would just keep on coming until you'd used half a clip on one of them. Not a good thing if you were unlucky enough to be trapped by a horde. A .45 round at least has good stopping power, I've seen the infected fall and be unable to get back up after two or three hits, it didn't even require a headshot. An H&K USP tactical .45acp should do nicely.

That took me probably twenty minutes to find, it was apparently a very popular weapon. I had to admit though, the thing was beautiful, it handled well and sat nicely in the hand. I finally found one, along with a nice cache of ammunition stashed behind the counter which I gathered together and put in my pockets along with two or three extra clips, then I left the shop.

It took the infected girl a few minutes to figure out I'd gone and for a moment I thought she might have gotten bored of following me around, but soon enough she was back along with her giant dog. Still, as much as I might wish she wasn't following me, I was glad to have Atlas there. There's something comforting about a big fluffy dog trailing at your heels everywhere you go, even if everything is different you can at least feel good that some things never change. Also somewhat balances out the discomfort of having a zombie cat girl following you around, makes it somewhat less nerve wracking.

This was shaping up to be a day of nothing but walking and taking out the odd infected here and there, whatever got too close. Half the time I barely had time to see the things before the infected girl had already jumped them, ripped their throats out, and leapt for the next one. I had to think of something to call her too, I couldn't just shout 'Infected' every time I wanted to get her attention, if I did that all the time then any other survivors I might team up with in the future might just shoot her on reflex.

"So what am I going to call you, huh?" I asked her. She perked up and tilted her head, reminding me for all the world of a husky puppy, or maybe a kitten.

"You probably wouldn't care even if I just called you a random ass name like 'bitch' would you?" I teased.

She paid attention, I had to give her that. She seemed to know I was talking to her, responding more now than she did when I called them collectively. I definitely needed a name for her, and I couldn't call her something mean, it wouldn't feel right. Hell, forget not feeling right, it plain wouldn't be right, and there would definitely be no way I could explain shouting 'bitch' at the top of my lungs to get a girl to follow me, regardless of how infected she might be. I tried probably five or six names in the next half hour but nothing seemed to stick and she barely responded to any of them. I started to wonder if maybe the only reason she responded at all was because she was hearing my voice because if she wasn't looking at me when I spoke she didn't always notice I was talking to her.

Eventually we came to the first department store on my list and I decided to take a break from trying to name her. I figured I would have plenty of time for that, it didn't look like she'd be going anywhere anytime soon. We walked into the building and I started going through what wasn't buried under debris from the partly caved in ceiling. There wasn't much to find, everything was either buried under rubble or already picked over by other survivors. I couldn't blame them I supposed, they'd only done what anyone else does in this kind of a situation. You do what you have to just to see another day. There was a soft chirp and I jumped, then looked to see the girl sitting on top of a pile of concrete and plaster holding a package of…something, in her mouth.

"Don't sneak up on me unless you want your brains blown out," I scolded her. She tilted her head and dropped the package which landed with a soggy slap on the floor. "Alright, let's see what you dragged over here," I grumbled.

I bent and picked up the package and couldn't help being surprised. The little monster just brought me a fucking steak.

"Where'd you find this?" I asked her. I hadn't seen a steak in ages but I didn't want to eat anything I might get sick off from and for all I knew I might not be as immune to this plague if I swallowed it. She was watching me intently again so I held up the package and asked, "Where?"

She looked confused for a second or two, then perked up and chirped before bouncing down from the pile of rubble and taking off through the destroyed store. I followed the best I could but it still took me a few minutes to catch up with her. She had found an undamaged freezer and had been pulling packages of meat out of it for herself and Atlas, and then apparently decided to share. The freezer had only lost power recently and most of the food in it was actually still frozen. I decided not to let the one she brought me go to waste and stuck it in my pocket to feed to her later in case we didn't make it back here, then I went to the freezer and took out two more that were still frozen and didn't have bite marks in them.

"Good job," I told her. She tilted her head with her ears pointed forward, and I could have sworn she smiled just a bit before the expression was gone and she was back to rummaging around on, and in, the floor. It was hard to understand how the place kept electricity for so long with as torn up as it was. I spent close to another twenty minutes searching what I could get to of the place but I didn't turn up anything else useful and it was about time we moved on anyway. If I've learned anything it's that the infected are drawn to you if you linger in a place for too long. I called Atlas and he and the girl came running, then we left the store.

I had meat in my pockets so I decided to head back to the safehouse and get them into the fridge. I tried to keep watch of the infected girl, I really did, but it wasn't long before I had walked four or five blocks I couldn't remember walking, the girl had disappeared, and I had no idea where she went. This was it, this was how I was going to die. It scared me half to death when she showed back up, practically out of thin air.

"What the hell!"

She just gave me a confused look.

"Well I think I have a name for you anyway," I sighed.

She started to move closer to me and I pointed my sidearm at her again, making her back off. I didn't really think she'd do anything since she hadn't yet, but I wasn't quite ready to trust her yet either. It didn't help that she came and went like mist in the morning.

"That's what your name is, I'm going to call you Misty," I told her. She started to edge closer again and I lifted my weapon. She backed off. "Why are you so determined to be over here, huh?" I growled at her.

She made a mewling noise and moved away. It almost seemed like she was more bothered by my tone of voice than my sidearm. So I scared the little monster, sue me, I thought. Sure I felt a little mean for doing it, but she showed up randomly, started following me, in fact when I thought about it I didn't even know how long she might have been stalking me, and then she wanted me to let her near me. No way in hell I was going to do that. At least, not until I was completely convinced she wasn't going to lose her shit and eat my face.

This kept on for the rest of the trip, she'd stay away for a half hour or so and then pretty soon I'd notice her inching her way back and chase her. The problem was I was practically asleep on my feet at this point, so I didn't always notice what she was doing until she was almost close enough to touch. There was more to it really, I didn't want her closer than necessary but I also didn't really want to shoot her and I probably would if she scared me bad enough. She was a good sport about it though I suppose. She didn't run off in a huff and she stayed more or less in the fifteen to twenty foot distance range until she thought I wasn't paying attention. It was a huge relief when we got to the safehouse.

"You're just going to have to be patient," I told her as I opened the door. She looked at me then kept on with whatever she was doing. That looked like it was as close to an answer as I was going to get, she apparently didn't have the slightest clue about words and 'where' was only one I knew for sure that she understood. Shit didn't count, I was pretty sure she'd only said that one because she heard me say it.

I put the steaks in the fridge and looked around for a grill, or just anything I could successfully cook them on. I didn't have a lot of luck, and if I wanted to cook them tonight it would be either over a fire or on my burner. I decided I'd leave them in the fridge for the night and maybe eat the pea soup. I opened the can and set it on the burner, then I looked through the rest of the canned food I had in the place to see if there was anything that I could feed Atlas and Misty. There was a can of stew so I figured that should do for now. I pulled the bowls out of my pockets, opened the can and dumped half into each one and set them on the floor. Atlas practically ate the bowl along with the stew and then went for Misty's.

"That one's not for you," I told him and I picked the bowl back up. He sat there whining for the next few minutes until I finally decided to put her in the other room to eat. That didn't happen, I couldn't separate them because Atlas didn't trust me. Well I hadn't given him much reason to when I thought about it, he probably thought I was going to hurt her.

"Misty," I called her. She looked at me curiously but she didn't move from where she was curled up on the floor in a corner.

"Come here, Misty," I called her again. She looked confused until I held up the bowl, then she started inching toward me. I was actually starting to regret chasing her all the time, I guess I did it enough that she didn't trust me not to shoot her if she came to close. She still needed to eat though.

"Come on," I coaxed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

She still didn't move more than a few inches in my direction, then she started backing up. I set the bowl on the counter and sat down on the floor to watch her and Atlas.

"I guess this is all my fault, huh?" I muttered, "First you scare the crap out of me so I chase you with my gun, then every time you get a little bit brave I just chase you some more. Wonder what you'd say about that if you could talk. Probably wouldn't have too nice of an opinion about me, would you? Just trying to be helpful and this jackass points a gun in your face. And now he's talking to himself, looks like we've got a real winner here folks."

I didn't know when she started paying attention, but she was tilting her head back and forth like whatever I was saying was the most important thing she'd ever heard. Well, I supposed it couldn't hurt to try and give her food again. I picked up the bowl off the counter and held it toward her. She tilted her head again then finally came over and took it from my hand before going back to her corner to eat.

"You're kind of a cute little monster I guess," I told her as I picked up my own bowl and started to eat, "Still kind of a freak, but kind of cute too."

I hoped I wasn't going to regret keeping her in the safehouse with me, but there wasn't much else I could do. I didn't want Atlas outside because part of me worried that he would end up as food for some random infected or other, and if he was going to be inside Misty had to be too. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. I was too tired to think about it anymore though, I was practically falling asleep watching her so I finished my dinner then got up and moved to the other room where my makeshift bed was. I was out the minute my head touched the lumpy pillow…