Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead.

Among The Bodies: New Identity.

I leaned back, scoffing and rolling my eyes. "Yeah, funny." It was hard for me to get a boyfriend before, with my average looks and my not very lady like behavior, and I was never good with talking with boys. An apocalypse was not going to change that. Doug smoked calmly, opposite of the crouching predator in front of us. Said predator was still glaring at us through the windshield, quite angrily at that.

I was now more annoyed than I was surprised. Opening the passenger door, I leaned out and waved my crowbar to threaten him. "Get off…now" I lowered my voice to sound like my mother had used to whenever I had gotten into trouble, but instead I sounded more like a bad imitation of batman than a scolding mother.

Putting on a face I usually only saw when Bill was scolding Francis, I tried to do my intimidating voice again, but it resulted in failure, and the embarrassment of hearing my own voice crack. Right now, I looked like an idiot.

Dispite that, he hesitated for a long moment, then crawled off the hood and crouching at my side. Batman voice was effective, I guess. Or it could have been the crowbar that I was waving around like a maniac.

Sighing, I looked back inside the truck. "Uh…" Doug took a breath of his cigarette, awaiting my request. "Could he somehow…come with us? I mean, only if that's okay with you and…" I stopped talking, since his expression wasn't changing from that same amused grin.

Doug blew out his smoke. "Who is this boy to you?" He asked. In truth, I didn't have an answer for that. What was he to me? Some infected I had saved and it decided to follow me around for it? Lost puppy? Creepy killer that liked to play with his food? Before I know what he is to me, what am I to him?

"He's my friend" That answer was as good as any, since nothing else suitable could come to mind. Doug nodded understandingly in response, looking my 'friend' over. I nervously awaited his decision, and a little part of me almost wanted to stay with the hunter if he didn't let him travel with us.

He tossed the last of his cigarette out the window. "Tell that boy he betta get in here before I leave both of ya"

I was grateful for not having to come up for a bunch of reasons why he needed to come with us. Smiling, I leaned back inside and scooted to the middle closer to my new older friend, and signaled for my companion to follow. Unsure, he sniffed the leather seats, not trusting the moving, mechanical, smelly thing that I had crawled into.

Using my hands to make gesture to come towards me, I beckoned him inside. But he continued to sniff the seat and I snuck a glance at the driver, whom was still waiting.

At this rate, it would take forever for him to hop in. I thought about using a can of food to lure him into the truck, but we have already eaten what we needed to today. We needed to make that last as long as it could. Reaching over, I took hold of the shoulder sleeves and hoisted him up as quickly as I could manage into the passenger side.

Caught by surprise, he lashed out, almost taking my ear off, but I had already pulled him in. I could tell he was going to make a move for the door, so I leaned over his person and slammed it shut, not bothering to lock it due to his inability to use any kind of knob or lever.

"C'mon Bub, you can love on ya boyfriend later, we gotta hit the road." With Doug's statement, he turned the key in the ignition and the truck jerked into drive. I realized my position over the hunter, and just how his awkward it was for me, and how it lacked a real reaction from the hunter. Sitting up straight, I mumbled underneath my breath. "He's not my boyfriend. He's an infected-"

"An infected that's gotta a fancy for ya, huh Bub?"

I huffed, placing my hands in my lap. Doug obviously wasn't gonna let me live this down, so I just needed to sit back, relax, and wait to see where the road will take us. The hunter was still a bit shaky, and irritated, but he sat with his knees curled up to his chest, nipping at his claws, and staring out the window, probably wondering why the world around him was moving so fast.

It probably wasn't a really good idea to trap someone with his capabilities in a small, metal, confined space, but it was too late to shove him out now. Besides, he looked like he was getting used to it. I wondered if I rolled the window down, would he stick his head and tongue out and pant like a dog?

As my thoughts were drifting, my eyes were getting heavy, drooping, until they were almost fully closed…

"So what's his name?"

This snapped me back to attention. "What?" Doug sighed, not liking to repeat himself. "What's his name Bub? You know, that thing your mama gives ya babes, and you go by it for the rest of ya lives?" He repeated sarcastically. I shrugged. "I never thought to give him a name; I've always just thought of him as…that 'hunter' you know?" I answered, sneaking a glance at the other passenger. I wonder what he would say if he could communicate with us right now.

Doug nodded, and didn't say anything else. This allowed me to go back to resting. But before I closed my eyes, I whispered something. "Thanks" The driver smiled, keeping his eyes on the road.

Drifting off, I leaned my head onto the soft fabric of the hunter's hoodie. He flinched at the sudden contact, but sat still as I slipped from reality. Somewhere in my mind, I noted that indeed, the truck did actually stink.

I met a rude awakening with my head hitting the ceiling of the truck, and I cursed out loud in pain. The old man beside me tisked. "Bah, nowadays that's some of the only words you kids got in ya vocabulary. Ain't nobody say 'darn' or shoot' no more." He chuckled. I sheepishly rubbed my head. "Sorry, can't I get a pass this time?"

Doug grinned. "If ya gonna curse, then curse like a sailor, because if you gonna talk dirty, then ya teeth will rot to match." I laughed at his statement. Even though I wasn't sure what it meant, it was still a pretty interesting quote.

I shifted to look at the hunter, whom was still staring out the dirty window. Did he ever wish he was outside? Leaping around in the fog, searching for his next meal. Or did he ever think about other things, like how badly his wound was hurting, how the truck smelt, or how hungry he was? Did he ever truly think at all?

Okay, need to step out of the brooding zone. Too much gloom and heaviness could cause me to lose my head, and I did not want to go through that again.

"So how did ya get here Bub? Looking for somebody?"

I sighed, sloping back in my seat. "Yeah, something like that. But I was never planning on actually finding them so…" Doug gave me a raised brow, obviously listening, but keeping his eyes on the trail. Huh, that's weird. When did we get on a trail?

Taking a deep breath, I began. "I was actually in a group, there were four of us, and we've been going from city to city in search of rescue, supplies, and just took stay away from the infected." I fumbled with my thumbs, rolling up the sleeves of my sweater in nervousness.

Doug nodded, urging me to continue. "We were able to contact a military safe area with an old radio we had got working. But before they could get there, we were attacked by a horde. We held them off long enough for help to arrive, but we were caught by surprise and…" Remembering my friends face's stopped me in the middle of my sentence.

I can still remember their expressions, how horrified they were, and how they were so eager to come after me. Do they still think of me now? Maybe still have a little hope that I had somehow survived and are looking for them?

"Ya don't have to finish, if ya don't want to, Bub." Doug said. I could hear the concern in his voice. I shook my head. "No, it's ok. I was just pulled away from them by a smoker and lived, but they were gone by then, so just came back into the city, that's all." I finished, rolling back up my sleeves and curling them around my fingers to keep them warm.

Doug coughed, giving my story some thought. "I'm sorry about ya friends, Bub. Were they good to ya?" This made me giggle. "Yeah, they were kind of like my family. They made fun of me sometimes, but they protected me and praised me when I was really kicking ass! I miss them…"

"Now, Bub, what did I say about that cursin'?"

I snickered. "Sorry"

.Tap.

We both turned our attention to the other passenger in the vehicle. The hunter was using his claw to tap on the window, the same annoyingly way he had done to me when I had shut myself inside the hotel. It gave me half the nerve to swat his hand away from the glass, but then I remembered how we were in a confined space, and he was stuck with me and a complete stranger who he didn't have a good first impression of, so I decided against it.

"How about the boy? How didja meet him?"

He was trying to kill me inside an attic of an old abandon cabin? Nah probably wasn't a good thing to say about him right now. I needed to make him sound a lot less…dangerous than he actually was, just in case Doug had any ideas of shooting him. So I went for a lot simpler explanation.

"He was hunting me…" Wow, nice way to make him seem less dangerous.

I coughed awkwardly. "What I meant to say was, He followed me into the forest outside of the city and got caught in a bear trap-"

"Bear trap, you say?" He asked, interrupting me. I nodded and he sighed. "It was a bad idea to head into those woods, Bub. Those bear traps mostly likely weren't set out to catch no infected. They were set to catch people."

All I could do was stare, confused by what he meant by that. Doug sighed. "You see, ain't nobody hunting bears no more, and it's too easy to just shoot a infected then have to go through all the trouble of setting up a trap for it, so them bear traps are for people."

Bear traps for people? That can't be right, I mean, who would set up traps for humans when there were infected around? "Why would someone need traps for people? I don't understand the point-"

"There are bad people out there who think they can use other human beings as bait, or as workers, slavers, and living test subjects for experiments to help develop a cure. I heard there were black markets full of slaves, of all colors, genders and age, all because of this damn apocalypse. Tell me, Bub, was that trap near where you and your friends called for rescue?"

Speechless, I just nodded. Black markets? Healthy people trapping other healthy people? Humans being used as bait? As experiments? I thought people were supposed to band together to survive, now, I wondered what the safe area would have been if all of that has been going on.

"Well, ya lucky you didn't get caught then, because if you had, you would have been found and sold, or eaten. But if you were found, most likely ya would have gotten eaten anyway, just in front of other healthy folk."

Staring straight ahead though the windshield, I tried to manage all these thoughts inside my head. So, people now hunt other people to use for human experimentation, or bait? Bait for what? To catch infected? Well, that would make sense since they would need to study the infected to get a better understanding of it. But still, has the world really been driven to something this vile? Was it like this all over?

"Why that boy got lady things strapped to his leg?"

Now I had some real explaining to do.

"Well, remember when I said he got caught in a trap? He got hurt badly, and I felt bad for leaving him alone, so I, uh, let him go. He followed me back and hasn't attacked me since, so um…" Doug was still waiting for a decent reason, but this time with a shit eating grin on his face.

"He kept following me, and I ran into a witch, but he sort of attacked her instead so-" Once again, I was interrupted. "He attacked a witch?" He asked with disbelief. Nodding, I continued. "Yeah, and he got hurt really bad, and like before I couldn't just leave him there! So I patched him up with what I had, and um, yeah." Taking a deep breath, my lungs wished that I hadn't had said everything so fast.

Doug released a loud, hearty laughter. "Of course he need to wear them little lady things when he gets in a cat fight with woman, ha!" He continued to laugh in a loud manner. While I thought his laughter was a change from the usual gloom, the hunter on the other hand, didn't quite find the disturbance in his window staring time to be funny.

He let out a low, rumbling growl, and Doug stopped immediately. Only to snicker at the hunter's figure once more. "Gah, tell ya 'friend' here to shush up. He don't need to be telling me to be quieting down when he looking like a dumbass with the way his now." In response to his statement, the hunter growled once more, but less aggressive and more defeated this time.

I laughed. "Don't worry; he's just messing with you." I wasn't sure who I was talking to, Doug or the hunter, so I just let that be as it is. I leaned back with a smile, feeling goofy and a little hyper, either from the really weird conversation or the nap I had not too long ago.

"That boy need a name, you can't just call him 'hunter'. Ya know?" I agreed. In fact, the only way for me to identify him from any other hunter was to look at the way that he acted, and to see the make-shift bandages on his leg. If I ever needed to call out to him, what would I say?

"I can't think of anything." I admitted. "Can you?" Doug seemed like a pretty nice guy, why not let him choose his name? The dark skinned man chuckled. "We ain't naming no dog now, it's gotta be a decent name, Bub. Have you tried looking for a wallet on him? Maybe a license or something?"

No, But I really don't want to stick my hands in any of his pockets to find out. But I tried anyway. The hunter snarled softly at my close contact, but I ignored him since he wouldn't have done anything to hurt me anyway. I think he wouldn't, would he?

Hoodie pockets: Nope. Front pants pockets: Nope. Back pants pockets: Not even gonna try. I raised my empty hands for show. "Didn't find anything." I curled my fingers back into my nice sweater. It was warm, very warm. I wonder why Doug had a woman's sweater in his truck.

Doug smiled. "Okay, sure ya can't think of anything?" I shook my had no, sloping down in my seat again and curling my knees up to my chest, much like the hunter was doing before. Except now he was relaxed, legs splayed out and head resting on the headrest, still glaring out the window. I almost wanted to snap my fingers next to his head to see what he would do.

"Aaron."

"Huh?" I raised a brow. Doug scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I had this grandson named Aaron, and that boy would give me hell, always bickering with his mother, and with me, but he was the sweetest boy any man could have." He smiled, probably thinking about said boy.

I smiled in return. "I like it. Aaron…sounds pretty fitting." Doug didn't answer, just used a hand to pull out another cigarette. "Make sure he learns that name. It's his now, alright?" Swatting a few fumes of smoke out of my face, I nodded. But I was curious about something that I should have known better then to ask about.

"What ever happened to your grandson?"

Doug didn't answer, and his smirk faded, but came back as a sad smile.

"I'll tell ya later, but you should really go back to sleep, Bub, it's going to be a while before we get home." Home? What home? His home? "Are you tired? I can drive, if you want." I offered. He shook his head. "Nah, Bub, get ya beauty sleep…and tell Aaron to stop taping on my window, it's giving me a headache." I swatted the hunter's shoulder, and he rumbled in response and went back to tapping. I swatted him again and he took the hint.

"Just let me know if you want me to drive, ok?" I told him. "Don't worry about it, I'm not gonna fall asleep, Bub, I ain't that old ya know." I giggled, wondering on how old he actually was. "How long is it going to take to get there?" I said 'there' instead of home, since his idea of 'home' could mean anything. It could even mean the black market he was talking about for all I know.

"Long enough for ya to catch some Z's now get to sleeping." He nagged and I nudged him playfully before shifting to my side and closing my eyes. It was going to be difficult to sleep, with the smell of some in the air, tight space, and the fact that I had just taken a nap not too long ago.

In an effort to get comfy, I leaned on one of their shoulders. He was very relaxed, and looked like he was on the verge of sleep himself. Carefully, I tried to rest on him without disturbing him, but failed. Aaron didn't flinch this time, but once again, let me have an annoyed, soft, short growl. It went silent and all I could hear was the truck's engine and tires moving across the trail.

Big apology about the lack of updates. Been busy with real life, you know? That thing behind the curtains that were all scared of? No? Just me? Ok…

Yes, the hunter's name is Aaron. Sorry if it's not the name you wanted or voted for. If you don't remember the name in the poll, then it's because it was added sometime after you voted. I took good suggestions and added them into the poll, and after a little while took out the ones with no votes. Between the votes, Blake was almost the hunter's name. Hmmm…..I just might use that name somewhere else….

If you see any errors or anything like that when Doug is speaking, most likely I meant to do that. Doug is supposed to talk like saying 'didja' instead of 'did you' and 'ya' instead of 'you' most of the time. I felt like it would give him more character. Aside from that, tell me about any mistakes with the chapter and I will quickly fix them.

Reviews are motivation, and motivation makes more chapters….