Hiiii everyone. Wow, we're almost to chapter ten already :D Lol I don't really have much to say up here today. Though I do have to apologize for one thing. XD You see, I often use indents and paragraph breaks to switches in place or a jump in time, but whenever I put them into a word document, fanfiction destroys them… D: So, sorry if some parts are hard to follow. ^^; Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 in any way, shape, or form! I only own my own OC and the plot of the story. Commander of the Rabbids owns Sam. Sorrowsnow owns Calli. Zipper Whippersnapper owns Jeffry. Foxstar-Nikiu owns Valery. CozBlueX owns Claire. Breaking Ground owns Mike. Scorpion 123456 owns Clawer.

…...

"It's…so…hot!" Taunter groaned, staring up at the sky from her mattress. It was another blazingly hot day, and not only that, but the survivors hadn't made another appearance for a while.

"And now that door at the store isn't spewing out cold air anymore, either," Hunter added.

"Why don't you guys just come in here?" Smoker asked from the door to the safe room.

"Too tired…can't move…" Calli rolled over slightly. The only ones who had moved into the safe room were Smoker, Jeffry, Valery, and Claire. The others were trying to stand the heat outside. And it wasn't going very well.

"We've gotta find somewhere else to cool down," Taunter sat up. "If all of us go into the room at once, it'll just be even hotter."

"Well, let's see…" Smoker reached up with his tongue and rummaged around on a shelf until he found a town map. The edges were torn, but it was still possible to see the city.

"What's with all those weird squiggles on it?" Claire asked, taking a look as well.

"That's survivor writing," Smoker replied. "They've got a weird writing system, huh? Anyway, let's see…you want somewhere to cool down? Well, there's a big blue rectangle here. Blue is usually water, right?"

"A pool?" Calli said, now seeming a lot less exhausted as she sat up enthusiastically. "I love swimming!"

"Swimming…not a bad idea," Taunter nodded. "I'll go."

"Does anyone here know how to read a survivor map?" Smoker asked, holding the map out.

"I could try," Boomer replied, coming over and taking the map from him.

"Alright, just don't puke on it."

"Hmm…" Boomer looked at the map for a long while, trying to understand this strange thing that survivors could actually use to get around. "Well, that looks like the grocery store. And if the grocery store is there, that means that we're here. So, if we want to get to the pool, we go out of the alley that way, turn right, then keep walking for a while until we get to a corner with a tree on it, then we turn right again, then we're there."

"You lost me at 'grocery store'," Hunter said, barely even paying attention.

"Why don't you just lead the way?" Sam asked.

"Sounds good to me," Boomer shrugged. "Everyone coming to the pool, follow me." Everyone ended up following him, though not everyone seemed so enthusiastic about it. Boomer gave the map back to Smoker before they left, and Smoker put it back on the shelf. They followed Boomer for a while, then finally they reached the pool. Before them lay a huge building, looking very chic, with several glass and metal walls.

"A rec center?" Mike questioned.

"Since when has there been a rec center here?" Smoker wondered aloud.

"Whatever, it has a pool, so let's go!" Calli said, running inside excitedly. They had to pick their way through the occasional pile of shattered glass, but finally reached the pool, in one of the inner rooms. The room was huge, with a high ceiling sporting bright lights. There were bleachers lining a few sides, then the pool in the center, the water shimmering. The building looked so normal that it was almost as if the infection had never even happened.

"Here it is," Calli grinned. "So…do we need to change or something?"

"What are we supposed to change into?" Taunter asked her.

"Huh, good point. Oh well," Calli shrugged. She ran over to the edge, jumping up into the air over the crystal clear blue water "Cannonball!" As she curled up and landed into the pool, a huge splash of water flew out, soaking anyone near enough to the pool.

"Well, guess I don't have to change anymore," Taunter laughed a bit, shaking off some water from her clothes. Calli's head emerged from the water as she paddled to stay afloat.

"Ah, dammit, Calli," Hunter said, annoyed. "I didn't want to get wet."

"Well, we're at pool, so DUH, you're gonna get wet," Calli laughed. "Scared of a little water, Hunter?"

"No," Hunter replied. "I've been in a pool before, you know." As this conversation went on, Mike noticed some stairs going up to the next floor. He saw them going into a glass walled room, and inside were some treadmills. Perfect for running.

"Hey, I'm gonna head upstairs," he said as he began climbing up the steps.

"Smoker, come in the pool!" Calli called to Smoker as he was about to sit down onto one of the lounge chairs.

"Well, I don't know…" he seemed to be in some indecision. Finally, he came over and sat by the edge, letting his feet swing in the water. "I'll at least come here." Valery sat down on one of the lounge chairs, turning on her ipod. It was way cooler in here than it was outside. It was a great place to relax while they were there. Boomer also took a seat on one of the chairs, the chair creaking out in protest under his weight.

"Hey, look what I found!" Claire said, now over by a pile of pool floaties. She threw a few in, some inflatables and a few noodles, a rainbow of items falling into the water. After tossing them in, she began organizing the remainder of them. She hated to see things out of place.

"So, are you going in?" Hunter asked Taunter as he started heading over towards one of the chairs.

"Maybe," Taunter said, smiling a bit. It looked like she was up to something.

"What are you-hey!" Hunter was unable to stop Taunter as she grabbed his arm, dragging him into the pool with her as she jumped in. When the two of them came up for air, Taunter was laughing, this time in genuine earnest.

"I thought I said that I didn't want to get wet!" Hunter said, trying to sound annoyed, though he couldn't help the smile creeping across his face. Bottom line: Pools were fun. And even he couldn't deny that.

"Sneak attack!" Calli shouted happily, grabbing a pool noodle and swinging it at Hunter in mock slow motion.

"Failed sneak attack," Hunter said in answer, grabbing a noodle of his own to defend himself.

"Interception!" Taunter jumped between the two of them, making a splash that soaked them both. With all the splashing going on in the pool, those who didn't like water, Jeffry for instance, were staying as far away from the edge as they could. Sam had gone up to the work out room a little while ago, and Clawer seemed to have gone into the shallow end of the pool, sitting on the submerged steps.

"So, you're really not going to come in?" Calli asked, coming over and sitting next to Smoker on the edge of the pool while Hunter tried to avoid the splashes that Taunter threw at him.

"Nope, I don't think so," Smoker shook his head.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't think I'm coming in."

"I beg to differ," Calli grinned at him.

"Huh?" was all Smoker had time to say before Calli put a hand on his back, pushing him into the pool.

"Oh, great, very funny," Smoker as he came up. But he was still smiling. It was just water, anyway. Calli jumped in after him, landing into the water with a splash.

"That's the third one that's broke," Mike seemed a bit annoyed as he got off of the smoking treadmill.

"Maybe you're running too fast," Sam commented as he did another chin up on a bar sticking out of the wall.

"Heck, I'm running slow!" Mike couldn't help but laugh. "Survivor tech really sucks!"

Jeffry had wandered over to another room adjacent to the pool room. There were so many shiny things in there! Lots of large balls that squished when you touched them, but still shined as if they were metal. There were colored mats adorning the floor as well, and these were also squishy. It seemed like everything in the room was either squishy or shiny. And Jeffry was finding so many ways to entertain himself that he didn't even know where to start.

"Man, it's been so long since I've been in a pool like this," Taunter sighed contentedly as she floated by the others atop a pool floatie.

"Hey, how do you get onto one of those things?" Hunter asked, grabbing one. Maybe it would give his clothes a chance to dry off.

"I don't know, just sit on it from the edge," Taunter replied. Hunter climbed out of the pool, pulling the floatie over to the edge as he did so. But as he went to sit down on it, he ended up sliding off right into the pool. Calli burst out laughing, and Smoker and Taunter couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"That didn't work," Hunter said, coming up from under the water. He tried to pull himself up onto the floatie from in the water, but ended up sliding off again.

"Wow, you're really bad at that, huh?" Calli asked, still laughing.

"It's hard, okay? Geez," Hunter grumbled.

"Watch me do it," Taunter said, pulling the floatie over to the second set of steps coming out of the shallow end. She stood on the second highest step, then sat down into the floatie ring, sank into it a bit, then floated away. "See?"

"Well, yours is a circle. Rectangles are harder," Hunter shrugged.

"I never thought that you, of all people, would give up," Smoker said, brushing some wet hair out of his face.

"I'm not giving up!" Hunter said quickly, not wanting to be undone. He grabbed the floatie, brought it over to the stairs, and tried to get onto it. He managed to cling onto it for a bit, but ended up sliding off in the end, anyway. "Alright, that's it, floating thing, stay still…" Hunter pulled the floatie over to an open spot in the pool, then went over to the edge. He got down onto all fours, then tried to pounce onto the floatie, only succeeding in flipping both the floatie and himself over and into the water.

"Nice," Calli giggled. Hunter pushed the floatie away as he came out from the underwater, grumbling something under his breath.

"Hey, it's okay," Taunter said, getting off of the floatie she was sitting on. "You can just float on your back, too. Just like this." She demonstrated to him the way to float. "Only problem is that you can't see where you're floating to."

"Tell me if Calli's gonna do something," he muttered as he got onto his back on the surface of the water.

"Nah, I'll give you a break for now," Calli shrugged, also deciding to float for a little while. Smoker seated himself on one of the underwater ledges at the edge of the pool.

"It sure feels nice. You know, just floating here," Taunter said after a pause. "I haven't been in a pool since before the infection. And I can't really remember when before that."

"It'll take a pretty long time to dry off, though," Smoker remarked, doing his best to keep his tongue out of the chlorinated water. Calli was doing the same, though she didn't seem as concerned about it.

"Well, it was worth it," Calli smiled. "I mean, even Hunter cheered up. And that's really saying something."

"Meh, it was okay," Hunter said, trying to ignore Calli. "I mean, if you think that splashing around in the water is fun."

"Aw, come on, you were having fun!" Taunter knew that he was just trying to uphold his image with that statement.

"I was not-"

"Yes, you were!" Taunter grinned, splashing him a little.

"Fine, fine, it was a little fun," Hunter smiled a bit, knowing that he couldn't deny it. "Just a little, though."

"Yeah, right. I'd say that you had a lot of fun," Taunter insisted. Smoker looked out the window, realizing that the sun was setting.

"We should probably head back soon," Smoker said, getting out of the pool. "We don't want some random Infected getting into our alley and messing the place up."

"Yeah, true," Calli nodded.

"I'll go get Sam and Mike," Claire said, having finally finished organizing the pool toys, then heading up the stairs.

"I'll go find Jeffry," Boomer stood, heading off towards the door that he had seen Jeffry go through. Clawer got out of the pool as well, and Taunter could have sworn that she saw him slip something a bright yellow color into his pocket, but ignored it.

"We're probably still going to be wet tomorrow," Hunter commented, climbing out of the pool.

"Oh well, it was worth it, right?" Calli joined the group at the door. Soon enough, everyone was present and accounted for, and they had started to make their way back to the alley.

"Well, I've discovered something important today," Calli announced.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"Hunter isn't a total stick in the mud after all," Calli smiled contentedly.

"Gee, thanks," Hunter said. He didn't really do anything though, seeing as he was a bit worn out.

"We should go back there again sometime," Taunter said, a little bit of a bounce in her step.

"Maybe we'll make it a weekly thing?" Smoker suggested.

"Maybe not that often," Hunter disagreed.

"Aw, come on! Weekly sounds great!" Calli objected to Hunter's disapproval. "Geez. You are a stick in the mud after all." There was a small noise off in a side alley, which only Jeffry seemed to hear. He turned to look, but didn't see anything. He decided that it must be a Common, and continued along with the group.

"Hey, I'm just saying that we can't do it that much," Hunter tried to defend his decision.

"Yeah, it gets less special if we do it too much," Taunter agreed with him. "Maybe once every other week?"

"Sure, that sounds good," Hunter nodded.

"You're only agreeing 'cause it's Taunter saying it," Calli smirked, rolling away on her skateboard before Hunter could do anything.

"Hey! Dammit, Calli!" Hunter shouted after her.

As the group walked away, little did they know of who was back in the alley that Jeffry had looked into.

"Well, I'll be," Ellis murmured. "Since when do Infected walk around all buddy-buddy like that?"

"Should we get rid of them?" Rochelle asked.

"Gunshots would attract more Infected," Coach told her. "I don't think that we should go after them."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Let's just find a safe room."

"Do you think that they've got some sorta zombie clubs or something?" Ellis asked as they walked away. "Oh, ya know, that reminds me of this one time, when me and my buddy Keith-"

"Not now, Ellis."

"Alright, alright. But seriously. It's a good story…"

…...

I can tell you that Hunter's moment with the pool floaties was actually based off of me. XD I can't get on those darn things! D: I actually seriously tried the Hunter pounce to get onto one, once…it was fail. XD

Alright, question of the chapter!

If your Infected was able to hang out with ANY of the other main characters of the story, who would they most likely hang out with?

Also, now that all of the OCs have been established, could you guys tell me what your characters think of the other OCs, Hunter, Smoker, and Boomer, Tank, and Witch? Thanks! ^^