Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.
A/N: Hi, guys! We're back with chapter seven, and chapter seventeen is in progress. I'm pleased to say that I'm able to keep up with the ten chapter gap so I'm not going to catch myself up (I hope) at any point soon.
WATERDOG139: Thanks for reviewing the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one just as much!
~ Not So Forsaken ~
- Chapter Seven -
In Ellis' opinion, Zoey was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
When he'd seen her on that bridge for the first time, his heart had been lost to her. God, she was angelic to him. He couldn't wait to get to the other side of the bridge to meet her again, and everyone else knew that he couldn't wait because he just couldn't stop talking about her. The problem that Julia had with listening to this wasn't what Nick was suspecting, which was that she was into Ellis. That wasn't the case at all. She was hurting because of what Ellis was saying about Zoey. It made her think about the things Kevin used to say to her in those first few months when he was sweet and gentle... Before he turned violent.
Thankfully, the rain that was pouring down on them hid the fact that her eyes were tearful. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and blinked them away, cursing herself for being so childish. She had to get a hold of herself and stop letting herself get upset like this. It was going to cause trouble, especially if someone got hurt or killed because she was so busy wallowing in self-pity. She raised her head defiantly, not even bothering to put up her hood as she then moved to walk alongside Coach, who was watching out carefully for anything that could be coming to attack them through the rain.
"You doin' okay, Jules?" He asked her, casting a brief look her way.
"Yeah, thanks. How's the knee?" She replied with a smile.
"Better. Been cramped up in that car ain't much fun." Coach said, looking over his shoulder to see Ellis walking backwards, "Boy, get your ass focused on the job at hand! That girl can wait!"
Ellis turned around with a sheepish smile on his face, chuckling to himself. Julia smiled warmly at him, unable to believe how sweet he looked while he was clearly trying to shake himself out of thoughts of the young woman back at the bridge. It must've been so nice that in all this horror, he'd managed to find a sliver of happiness, even if it could only last for a short time.
A sudden coughing and hacking came from ahead, only just audible over the sound of the falling rain, and in the dim light, there was a small cloud of green smoke that moved slowly to the right. Julia patted Coach's arm and pointed, alerting him to it. He turned to the others, informing them that they needed to look out for a Smoker ahead and to their right before he and Julia started to move forward, their eyes desperately scanning the area in front of them for any sighting of the creature.
Walking up some steps towards a parking lot, they could hear the coughing growing closer, and they both caught sight of the Smoker in question climbing into the window of the upper floor of the store in front of them. They immediately started to open fire on it, but it got into the store before they could kill it, leaving both Julia and Coach with a feeling of dread. They'd both noticed that the way to their left was blocked, so they were forced to enter the building where the Smoker was now hiding to try and find a way out onto the other side of the truck that was blocking their path.
"There's a Smoker in this store." Coach told the others, pointing towards the building in question, "It just climbed in through that window up there, and we gotta go through the damn buildin' to see if we can get around this damn blockade. So, keep your eyes open."
"Great..." Nick said, nodding with an expression of resignation on his face, "Like tonight can't get any..."
Before he could even finish his sentence, a long, slimy tongue wrapped around his midsection and he was quickly being dragged away from the others, panicking at the sudden movement. The Smoker had returned to the window and spied Nick as its target before snaring him without so much as a sound that could've alerted the others to its presence. Nick was soon dangling above the floor, writhing and kicking to try and somehow work his way out of the horrid appendage while screaming for the others to shoot the tongue so he could be released.
Before the others even had a chance to aim, the sound of gunfire from the front of their group caused the Smoker to let out a wheeze of pain and it collapsed backwards, its tongue separating from its body which then sent Nick falling to the floor. He landed on his feet and hands, quickly bringing himself up off the wet ground as though the very thought of his suit potentially getting any dirtier had been enough to stop him actually falling flat on his face.
His eyes quickly shot over to the others to see who had fired the shot, and he was astounded to see Julia still aimed at the window, her rifle smoking with the beam of her laser aimed right where the Smoker had been standing. Her face was stony with concentration, her red hair becoming somewhat frizzier with the rain and her deep brown eyes fixed on the spot where their enemy had just been.
"Damn..." Coach murmured, looking at Julia in shock.
Only when she heard his voice did she lower her weapon, and her dark eyes slowly moved to Nick, who was still staring at her in surprise. She made the move to walk towards him and she picked up the sniper rifle that had fallen from his hands along the way before handing it to him. He carefully took it from her, looking her over again in both shock and disbelief at how quickly she'd been able to kill that Smoker.
"Thanks." He murmured, earning a small but very pretty smile from her in return.
"Anytime." She said quietly, "Are you okay?"
"Fine." Nick nodded, looking from her to his gun and back again, "I'm fine."
She gingerly reached out, almost as though she was afraid to, and patted him on the arm. Even though the interaction was somewhat awkward, it was almost as though she felt better for doing it, which made the whole thing even more confusing. Nick arched an eyebrow at her as she walked past into the store ahead, his eyes trailing down her frame towards her denim-clad backside.
Slapping himself mentally, Nick lifted his gaze back up to the store where Julia was currently scouring the shelves looking for anything useful, and he followed her inside with everyone else in tow.
"Girl's a damn good shot." Ellis was saying softly, "We didn't even get a chance to aim at that Smoker."
"I just reacted on instinct." Julia said quietly, bending down to look at the bottom of the shelving unit she was standing in front of, "Oh... That'll come in handy..."
She stood back up as Nick walked past her to see what was behind the door at the back of the store, and she waved the Molotov she'd just picked up from the shelf at the others before slipping it into her hoodie pocket. The sudden sound of neighing caught everyone's attention, and they quickly edged towards Nick, who had his gun trained on the door in front of him, his eyes locked on the damn thing as though it was going to break open at any moment.
Julia looked over her shoulder and beckoned the others forward, stepping closer to Nick who actually moved to one side for her, allowing her some space next to him in the small corridor. She also raised her weapon, looking briefly to one side at Nick, who was still looking dead ahead. She studied him for a moment, taking in his strong, stubbled jaw, his slicked back, dark brown hair and those steely grey-green eyes, and she couldn't help but feel that intimidation again that she'd felt when she first met him. She was determined to get past this stupid fear she had of the men around her who were trying to protect her, so she forced herself to stay put, even with the discomfort of him being in her personal space.
"You hear it?" Nick asked as the neighing came again, followed by maniacal laughter, "It's definitely upstairs."
"Then, let's take it slow..." Coach said quietly from the back of the group, "You two lead."
Julia waited for a second as Nick set off walking first, and she found herself unable to aim very well since the former conman was walking partially in her line of fire. Reaching the door, he pushed it open slowly to reveal a set of stairs, which he carefully started to climb, his eyes drifting towards the source of the laughing. The Jockey came barrelling into sight from a room to the right of the corridor he was approaching, and without hesitation, he opened fire at it, killing it with a couple of rounds from his sniper rifle. He approached the corpse, his face twisted with disgust, and kicked it, snarling down at it.
"Try and hump one of us, you gnarly little bastard."
He stepped over the corpse and started to check the room that the Jockey had been hiding in while Julia got her first chance to actually look at a Jockey up close. She stared down at the clownish face and the malformed body in horror, feeling an instant swirling of nausea in her stomach. She stepped over it and right into Nick, who was returning from his search of the room he'd disappeared into. She let out an embarrassed laugh, biting her lip nervously as she slipped past him.
"We all okay up here?" Rochelle asked, her eyebrow arched mischievously.
"We're fine." Nick said, glaring in her direction.
Rochelle bit back a smile as the conman turned and followed Julia further up the corridor before finally setting off to follow them. Ellis and Coach were at the back, wondering what the hell had caused the delay in front. Rochelle thought it was quite amusing to see Nick interacting with the awkward redhead, especially since she'd caught him staring at Julia's ass outside the store. But then, she remembered that Julia was actually a shy, nervous individual who was very sweet and unassuming, and who was spoken for, while Nick was a cunning, devious, rude, disrespectful asshole who could easily persuade a girl like Julia into doing anything. Her feelings about the interactions between the youngest and second eldest members of the group suddenly became rather negative.
Julia and Nick were now entering the next part of the building, passing through a deserted bar and towards the exit at the end of the room, where, hopefully, they would emerge behind the truck that had been blocking their path out on the street. Checking a closet to the right of them, just next to the door, Julia found a locker of all things situated on the floor in the darkness of the room. She approached it carefully and opened it up, finding nothing but a solitary pipe bomb inside.
"Damn..." She muttered, lifting it out of the box, "Okay... Who wants this?"
As the group poked their heads into the room, their eyes lit up at the sight of the pipe bomb, and Ellis was the first to stick his hand out for it. After making Ellis promise to be careful with it, Julia handed it to him, watching him slot it between the sleeves of his overalls which were tied around his waist. The sound of gunfire caught their attention, and they headed out of the building to try and find where Nick had wandered off to.
"He really shouldn't wander off on his own." Julia said quietly, "If something gets him again we might not be close enough to help."
"He'll do what he pleases. The man's stubborn." Coach commented, "Let's see where he's gotten to."
They took a right out of the building and followed the path ahead, spotting Nick amidst the rain, shooting at the few infected who were out there. Julia concluded that the man must be just blowing off some steam after the encounter with the Smoker and the Jockey, and so, she went to go and give him a no doubt unwanted and unneeded helping hand. The light rain peppered the group's faces and skin with tiny droplets, and as their clothing and hair (in everyone's case except Coach's) got wetter and wetter, they knew they needed to find an indoor space sooner rather than later so that they could at least wait for the rain to pass before moving on.
"Great." Nick muttered, looking up as the rain seemed to get heavier, "I really wanted to have my three-thousand-dollar suit ruined today."
"Yeah, I figured you were wearing something expensive." Julia replied sympathetically, "It's such a shame too because that is some good material."
Nick grimaced at her for a moment before breaking out into what could only be described as a nervous smile.
"You know your fabrics, huh?"
Julia gave him a rather incredulous look which took the conman back a bit. He hadn't expected a look like that to come from her, and he hadn't expected to know what she was talking about when it came to his suit.
"Please. My dad lived and breathed suits." She said with a small laugh, "He always had to have the best fabrics and the most expensive three-piece suits. There always had to be a waistcoat in there. I never understood the attraction..."
She then looked over her shoulder at the others, who were catching up with them. They decided to move further ahead to see what they could find. Passing between vehicles, they came across the end of the alley they were walking up and found it to be blocked, so they turned and headed up the ramp to their left, being careful not to walk into the alarmed vehicle that sat parked in the middle of their path. The rain seemed to pick up all of a sudden, and with the howling of the wind, it pelleted their faces, causing them to shield themselves as best they could from the now horrid weather.
"Let's check out these apartments!" Coach yelled over the wind, "Quick! Get inside!"
The apartments, which were just being built, had no glass windows, but they at least provided some shelter from the sudden raging wind and the harsh rain that was pounding against them as they sprinted for the open door across a walkway to their left. Coach held the door open for the others, closing it as Ellis came in last before announcing that he was going to head to the next room and close that door as well. Huddled together, now cold and wet, and in Julia's case, shivering, the group caught their breath and waited patiently for Coach's return.
"Wow. What a shithole." Nick murmured, looking around at the building distastefully.
"It's not finished yet." Ellis protested, feeling a chill run down his spine as cold rainwater ran down his arms, "I love rain. One time, me and my buddy, Keith..."
"Not now, sweetie." Rochelle said softly, rubbing his shoulder in a motherly fashion, "We have to keep going. I know you'd hate to keep Zoey waiting."
"Oh, Zoey... That girl... I'm gonna marry that girl, Ro. Take her cross country in Jimmy Gibbs Jr's car. We can have all kinds of adventures together." Ellis said excitedly, blushing at the same time as he thought about the young brunette on the bridge, "I hope she's okay in this rain."
"Let's check out upstairs." Coach's voice caught everyone's attention, and they obediently followed him towards the stairwell to the right of the area they were standing in.
Julia was at the back of the line behind Ellis, her eyes kept on the steps that she was climbing up. It must be so nice to be so appreciated by someone. Ellis barely knew Zoey but he spoke of her like he worshipped the very ground she walked on. Zoey had no idea how lucky she was to have someone talk speak about her like that, even if it was a little odd that Ellis was doing so when he'd only known her for a few minutes. At the top of the stairs, she heard a gurgle. A very unpleasant gurgle, actually, like someone who was trying not to vomit. She wondered if one of her comrades was sick, but when she found them all staring ahead at the door that was on the other side of the space ahead, she realised it wasn't one of them making the sound.
"What is that?" She asked, aiming her weapon at the door as the others did.
"Boomer." Rochelle whispered, "Where is it?"
The sound seemed to travel beneath them, and before long, the burps, groans and gurgles were coming from behind them. Up the stairs. They moved out of the way, towards the room to the right of where they were now facing, which was the staircase. A rather... large zombie could be seen waddling its way up the stairs, its growth covered belly protruding quite significantly from its tight t-shirt.
"Get back..." Rochelle muttered as everyone started to rapidly backtrack into the space that was now behind them.
Coach took a shot with his combat shotgun and the infected actually exploded right in front of their eyes. Julia was horrified. The lower half of the body was now on the floor, and the upper half was literally nowhere to be seen, but the innards of the Boomer were now splattered across the floor and up the balustrade, and some had even gotten on the wall that the stairs were next to.
"Gross, right?" Ellis muttered, taking in the way that Julia was staring in horror.
"Yeah." Julia replied, looking slightly spaced out, "Gross..."
"Hey, it's okay... Ya just can't let 'em get too close. Nick almost got puked on back at the hotel, and when I say it was close... Oh, man..." He laughed quite loudly, which earned him a terrifying glare from Nick, "I swear, if he'd been a half inch closer, he would'a been covered in puke."
"Well, next time we come across a Boomer, how about I throw you at it?" Nick asked darkly, "Then we'll see who's laughing."
"Alright, boys... Settle down." Rochelle said with a tone of irritation, "Let's keep searching these rooms."
Coach led Nick through the room they now stood in, while Ellis took the women across to the other room to their left, to just check for any supplies. Spotting a rather thin ledge leading to what she presumed was a bathroom, which stood next to a rather large hole in the floor that had a large drop to the storey beneath, Julia immediately began to cross it despite worried gasps and warnings from Rochelle.
'God, don't let me fall...' She thought, trying to use the wall beside her for support.
"Be careful." Rochelle called after her anxiously, turning to Ellis with a grimace.
Poking her head around the door, Julia caught sight of a shadow against the wall of the newly installed bathroom, confirming that her suspicions had been correct. She knew that there was an infected person in that bath, behind that clean, white, pristine shower curtain. A small groan came from behind the curtain and a hand started to emerge from behind it, pressing against the tiled wall where the shower head was secured. It looked and sounded very eerie and Julia knew all too well that if she'd been alone, she wouldn't have been brave enough to do what she was about to do.
Raising her Magnum, choosing instead to save her M16's ammo, she aimed carefully at where the shadow's head was, took a deep breath, and on the very edge of her exhale, she pulled the trigger. There was a sudden splattering sound followed by a thud. The body had fallen, and the threat was gone.
Now that the bathroom was safer to search, Julia looked through the cabinet under the sink, unable to find anything useful. What were the chances of finding anything useful in an unfinished apartment building anyway? She stepped back out to the ledge, spotting Ellis immediately as he waited at the end of the small ledge, his arm extended to her.
"Find anything?" He asked quietly.
"Nothing. Just an infected person." She replied, reaching out to take the hand he was holding out to her.
She would prefer some support on the way back across, rather than trying to manage what had been a slightly unnerving journey across that ledge on her own again. Their hands locked, and Ellis kept a very tight hold of her until she reached the other side. She knew she was safe in his hands and that was good enough for her, so when she got to safety, she offered him a warm smile, which he responded to by reassuringly patting her on the back as he let her hand go.
"Thanks." She said sweetly, looking up as Nick and Coach returned.
"We'll go out this way." Coach said, indicating the door ahead of them, "The rain's died down a little now."
The group made their way out into the now much slower rainfall, and they were met with the soft wailing sobs of a Witch that seemed to be gliding along the gusts of wind that were steadily hitting them from the front. A shared look of dismay passed between the five survivors and no-one said a word to each other. They all switched off the flashlights on their weapons and readied them, not knowing if they were going to need to take out the Witch to get past her or if they'd be able to slip by her quietly.
"Take it slow..." Rochelle said quietly, "Let's keep going."
They set off slowly, crossing a rather unsafe walkway to what looked like a park. There were still vehicles scattered all over the place, including a large bus which blocked any way of getting around the park where this Witch was no doubt hiding. Through the pouring rain, the figures of several rather well dressed infected could be seen stumbling around, and as the group entered the park, they came across the source of the crying.
In the middle of the park was what clearly had been a seating arrangement for a wedding. At the area where the altar would've been sat the Witch causing the crying, her veil flowing in the wind and her dress folded around her knees. It was upsetting to think that what should be one of the happiest moments of a couples' life had been torn apart by the infection.
"Careful. I've seen a bride just like this before..." Nick said, earning looks of surprise from Rochelle and Julia.
"Oh, man... I hope we don't see a Tank in a tuxedo." Coach replied, "Hey... Anybody see a weddin' cake?"
"Oh, don't..." Julia murmured, her stomach growling, "I could just devour a slice of fruit cake covered in icing and marzipan... Oh, my God."
"Girl, now you're talkin' my language." Coach said with a grin, looking back at the Witch, who was still sobbing at the altar, "Now, how are we gonna deal with this?"
Julia reached for the Molotov in her pocket, slowly pulling it out and holding it in her hand. She looked to Nick and then Coach, who seemed to understand what she wanted them to do. Nick cautiously reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and handed her a lighter, which she accepted with a nervous smile. It felt so unusual in her hand, and it was something that she'd never used before.
"Ellis, Ro, you two wait back there. She's gonna chase me past you, so please, don't miss when you're shooting her, okay?" Julia asked shakily, "I'm gonna set her on fire and then haul ass."
"Don't worry." Nick said, raising his sniper rifle as Rochelle and Ellis moved back a few paces, "We've got you covered."
Lighting the Molotov with some difficulty due to the falling rain and her inexperience with the lighter, Julia took a deep breath, handed the lighter back to Nick and launched the grenade straight at the Witch before immediately retrieving her M16 and backing away. The fire immediately spread across the Witch's body, eliciting a high pitched scream of both anger and pain from her as she immediately starting running, almost clawing at her own face from what was clearly agony from the burning of the fire she was covered in.
"Here comes the bride!" Nick yelled, firing sniper rifle rounds at the oncoming Witch.
Everyone else started to open fire on her, including Julia, who was running backwards while shooting. Indeed, as predicted, the Witch followed Julia and thankfully, everyone else was ready for her. She fell dead between Rochelle and Ellis, who continued to shoot her to be certain that she was dead which left Julia with a feeling of relief and gratitude that everything had gone okay, and no-one had messed up.
However, the infected in the park had been disturbed by the Witch's screaming and were now bolting towards the five survivors, giving them yet another challenge to tackle before they could progress any further. Angrily, Nick and Coach started to open fire on the oncoming horde, while Julia, Ellis and Rochelle started to shoot at infected coming from the right of them, the left of them and the back of the park.
"We gotta get out of here!" Julia yelled, hearing the beeping of a pipe bomb as Ellis launched the one he'd been carrying quite literally out of the park.
The infected dashed after the beeping contraption, leaving the others free to break into a run out of there before it got any worse. Sprinting ahead of where they were currently standing, the group spotted some marquees that had been set up for the reception, and Coach couldn't resist slowing his pace to have a good look in both marquees to see if there was indeed any wedding cake.
"Coach, what the hell?!" Nick yelled shooting at infected approaching from behind the larger man, "Come on!"
Rochelle and Julia were shooting at infected that were now coming from the way ahead, but a glowing light caught the women's attention, giving them a feeling of hope that sanctuary, however temporary, might be just yards away. Nick stayed with both women while Ellis waited for Coach to catch up, and as they headed down towards the glowing light, the trio at the front shooting the infected that came sprinting at them.
"In there!" Nick pointed to the area where the glow was coming from which had a safe house mark on the floor, "Safehouse! Go!"
He ushered Rochelle and Julia in first, which surprised both of them considering thus far, he hadn't been particularly chivalrous, and then he actually waited outside the door for Ellis and Coach to catch up, providing as much cover as he could. He entered last, slamming the door shut and slotting its awaiting bar into place. The zombies caught up with them fast, hammering on the door as hard as they could to try and get in. Julia and Rochelle were already moving furniture that was blocking up their exit door, handing it off to Coach and Ellis who then handed bits and pieces to Nick so that he could barricade the door.
Once the door was secured, everyone let out huge sighs of relief and eased themselves onto various surfaces, whether it was the nearby tables or the floor, and tried to get their breath back before they would have to venture out once more.
~ To Be Continued ~
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Thanks for reading this so far!
