Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.

A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for reading this so far. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

~ Not So Forsaken ~

- Chapter Ten -

A gas station really seemed to be the worst possible place to stop for the night, but it seemed secure enough, and when the group of four managed to get their injured friend and their belongings inside, they were pleased to see a few sleeping bags and even an old mattress in the corner that they could use to put Julia on to examine her injuries.

Nick, who was still cradling Julia in his arms, placed the young woman carefully on the dirty mattress, while Rochelle quickly approached with her and Ellis' bags in her hands, kneeling beside the young woman to start unpacking medical supplies. Nick stepped away with the others, who were also trying to get other med supplies ready along with bottles of water and rations that had been placed on a nearby palette.

Unzipping Julia's green hoodie carefully, Rochelle tried to ease it away from her body, taking her left arm in her hands to remove the sleeves from Julia's very thin limbs. The sight that she was met with once the hoodie was off was horrid and it caused a very unpleasant pang of shock to go through her. Bruises were all over the pale flesh of Julia's arms. Some the shape of fingertips, some healing, some fresh. Dark angry marks were all over the place, and Rochelle realised immediately that these were not the result of the Charger or Tank attacks that Julia had endured. Heart in her mouth, Rochelle carefully started to lift Julia's t-shirt. She was going to check to see if Julia's ribs had been bruised or broken, but what she was met with made her audibly gasp.

Bruises, again dark and angry, littered Julia's torso, and even more disturbing was the shape of a boot print which was across her stomach near her belly button. That definitely wasn't caused by a Tank or a Charger. Rochelle winced, her heart heavy and her stomach twisting sickeningly at the realisation that somebody had been abusing Julia as recently as the day she'd been found in the hotel, and Rochelle could guess who it had been.

"Guys...?"

Her quiet, slightly wavering voice was enough to stop the men in their tracks. Coach was the first to move to see what was wrong, and at the sight of the damage to Julia's torso, he let out a sad sigh, knowing all too well what had caused the injuries to the young woman's body. Rochelle kept the t-shirt below Julia's bra to try and give her as much dignity as possible, but the evidence presented to them was enough for them to realise that the rest of her torso was probably just as badly marked.

"Oh, young 'un..." Coach sighed sadly again, kneeling down to help Rochelle, "Turn her over, Ro..."

"What?" Ellis asked nervously, "What is it?"

When they didn't answer him, he and Nick moved forward to see what was going on. It transpired that Julia's back was just as bad as her front, and yet another boot print shaped bruise was present, this time on the right side of her back. Ellis' face held what could only be described as a mournful expression as he gazed upon her injuries for the first time. He couldn't speak. He could guess where the bruises had come from, and he now understood why Julia didn't seem to want to talk about herself much. If her boyfriend had been beating her, she wouldn't want strangers to know about it. He just couldn't understand how anyone could hurt someone as sweet as her.

Nick's face was a totally different picture. A red flush seemed to come from the base of his neck and move slowly upwards until his cheeks were a very deep shade of the vibrant colour. His hands clenched into fists by his sides and he turned away from the young woman, his lips pressed into a tight line. Anger swept over him, and it was an anger he hadn't felt for a very, very long time. A sudden growl left his throat and before he could stop himself, he'd punched a cardboard box that was sitting on a counter nearby, hard enough to break it open and for it to fall to the ground, spilling rations all over the dirty linoleum floor.

"That son of a bitch!" He spat, glaring at the wall ahead of him.

"Nick?" Rochelle spoke softly, turning Julia onto her back again, "What is it?"

Nick was shaking. He was so incensed. He didn't have many morals but one of his was that no matter what, he would never put his hands on a woman, no matter how angry he got. He'd rather break his fist by punching a wall that put his hands on a woman. He could use a woman for sex and not think twice about it, but beating a woman? No. Never. And to think that the son of a bitch who called himself Julia's boyfriend had not only beaten her but savagely assaulted her; someone so small and so innocent... His blood boiled.

"I need some air." He said darkly, throwing the bar off the safe room door before heading outside onto the forecourt of the gas station, slamming it shut behind him.

Coach and Rochelle shared a rather confused and worried look between them. The others were angry about this too, but not to the extent that Nick was. It struck them as very odd that he would be so upset, and they couldn't help but wonder if there was some underlying reason for that. Rochelle immediately started to try and apply some cold compresses to Julia's bruising to try and help it heal a little quicker, while Ellis sat by the young woman, taking her hand into his own.

"I think we know why she woke up in that hotel by herself." Coach muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "Poor girl..."

"You think her boyfriend knocked her out and left her there?" Ellis asked in disbelief.

"I knew that story didn't add up right..." Rochelle said sadly, "Imagine not having anyone to turn to when you're being attacked like this..."

"You two stay here and take care of her." Coach said softly, "I'll go and talk to Nick."

Rochelle and Ellis turned their attention to Julia, being sure to make her as comfortable as possible, while Coach slipped out of the safe room to go and talk to Nick. He found the conman leant against the wall facing forward, his head resting on his arms, his chest heaving with each breath. Angry didn't seem to describe how Nick was in that moment. He was clearly deeply upset by what he'd just seen, and Coach desperately wanted to know why, but he knew Nick wouldn't appreciate him prying.

"Nick...? You alright?" Coach asked carefully, moving towards him.

"Oh, I'm fucking peachy." Nick snarled, not even bothering to gaze at the older man.

"Look... I know that what we've all just seen is pretty damn horrific..." Coach began warily, "But... Somethin' tells me that there's more to this than you're lettin' on. You seem pretty upset."

"How are you not?" Nick asked angrily, "If there's one thing that you should despise as a man, it's men who beat their women. We all know how she got those bruises, and you're very fucking naïve if you think she didn't get them from the same asshole who's probably the reason she was abandoned in that hotel."

Coach raised a placating hand, trying to calm the conman down. There was clearly something much more to this than what Nick was telling him. Coach could speculate all he wanted but he wouldn't know unless Nick told him, and the older man could tell that Nick wouldn't be comfortable divulging that kind of information.

"Listen, Nick, we all know how it looks, okay?" He said softly, "But we can't just charge in there demandin' answers from her. That girl's clearly been through more than enough. We need to let her rest and see if Rochelle can get an answer out of her as to how she got those bruises. She might be more comfortable talkin' to another woman rather than approachin' us fellas."

Nick didn't answer. He just went back to glaring at the wall, his hands balled into fists by his sides. He was furious. He was mad at the others for not being as riled up about it as he was. He knew first hand what domestic abuse was like. He'd survived it himself as a kid, and it was the one thing apart from child abuse, rape and paedophilia that made him angry enough to kill someone.

"If there's somethin' else gettin' to ya and you wanna talk, I'll lend an ear, alright?" Coach said quietly after a few moments of silence, "Just... Don't stay out here too long."

With that, thankfully for Nick, Coach left him to return to the safe room, where he found Ellis gently brushing some of Julia's hair out of her face as Rochelle prepared a compress for the back of her head. He knelt down opposite Ellis and took the compress that Rochelle handed to him, feeling around for the bump on the back of Julia's head before holding the cold compress to it.

They were prepared to do whatever they could to try and help, even if it meant they could only take some of her pain away for a short time.

To say that Julia was surprised to awaken in another safe room with Nick sitting next to her was an understatement.

The conman was asleep, his gun cradled in his lap and his head tilted towards his chest as he snored softly beside her. Her head ached like crazy, causing her to wince with every moment she made. As she turned her head to her left, she found Ellis, who was watching her worriedly with her hand carefully held in both of his. It only then occurred to her as she saw her own bruised skin that her jacket was gone and that everyone had seen the marks on her skin that she'd been desperately trying to keep hidden from them.

She met Ellis' gaze, a look of horror plastered across her petite features. She pulled her hand out of Ellis' grasp and without a word, sat up slowly, ignoring the dizzy spell she was experiencing as she frantically looked for her hoodie, her brown eyes filling with tears and her face suddenly growing blotchy. What must they be thinking now? Why had they taken her jacket off? Why didn't they just leave her alone?

"Whoa, whoa... Easy, Jules." Ellis spoke so gently to her, trying to comfort her by touching her back carefully, "It's okay. We just wanna help."

"Don't touch me." She breathed out, her heart hammering with panic, "Keep away from me."

The others in the room seemed to now stir at the sound of her voice, and Rochelle was the first to approach the young woman to try and calm her other than Ellis. Julia was disgusted that they'd all finally realised how weak she was. She was devastated that her secret was now out, and she was angry that someone had removed some of her clothing without her permission. She had no doubt that, despite her white t-shirt still being in place, that the group had seen the marks that lay beneath it.

"Julia, sweetie, it's alright." Rochelle tried to reassure her, "We just needed to check that you weren't badly injured. That Charger knocked you out cold."

"Who told you that you could take my clothes off?" The redhead asked, her eyes wide, tearful and her voice coming out in this quiet, frantic manner that made her seem breathless, "You didn't have a right to do that."

"We're sorry, honey, but we just had to check that you were okay." Coach said, his expression one of regret, "We didn't realise that you weren't okay with that. We just wanted to help."

The youngest of their group was now in a state of near panic. She'd been desperate to keep her private and personal life out of things. She'd not wanted them to find out about what had been happening to her, but now it was clear that they'd all seen her injuries and it was clear that they were all making their own opinions and judgements about her and what she'd been through. Rochelle eased herself to her knees next to the twenty-one-year-old, helping her into her hoodie.

"Sweetheart?" The older woman's voice was very soft, "I'm not going to lie to you, we've all seen the marks on your arms and your torso, but how you got those marks is not our business. I'm not saying we're not concerned because we are, but it's not our place to start snooping around in your personal life. Okay?"

Julia was crying now, fat tears rolling down her face as her petite frame shook with silent sobs. Rochelle reached out and carefully cupped her face in a motherly fashion, smoothing the younger woman's copper coloured curls out of her eyes, her other hand then moving to rub her injured back.

"But, if you want to get anything at all off your chest, we're all here to listen and we'll try to help you the best we can."

There was quiet for a few moments as Julia continued to cry. Ellis looked about ready to cry himself, Nick was clearly still infuriated with what he'd seen but he was trying to not look at Julia at all, Coach was sitting quietly nearby, and Rochelle continued to carefully rub her back to try to soothe her. Julia wasn't an idiot. She understood that they were all aware of where her injuries had come from and she knew that they'd probably already picked her story about how she missed the hotel evacuation to pieces.

"It was Kevin..."

At the sound of her voice, four pairs of eyes were suddenly on her, and Rochelle instantly moved to hold her hand in a show of support. She knew that none of them had been together long, only a matter of days, but she and the others were the closest things that Julia had to friends and family right now, so Rochelle would try to support her as such, even if she wasn't particularly good at it.

"He gave me my bruises." Julia's voice was hoarse and barely audible as she found it harder to speak past the lump in her throat, "He knocked me out and left me to die back in Savannah... Took all my belongings too."

"I'm sorry, Julia." Rochelle said softly and sincerely, "Had he hurt you before or was that the first time?"

"He's been... Abusing me for about eighteen months..." Julia whispered, crying a little harder as those words left her lips, "Oh, God..."

She'd spoken the 'A' word out loud and it felt horrible to admit out loud what she'd been going through. But then, it felt a little better, like a weight was being lifted from her shoulders, and as she went into minute detail about the things she'd been suffering and how this may have affected her behaviour, it suddenly made sense to everyone why she'd been acting as bizarrely as she had been. Everyone was mortified, whether their faces showed as much or not, and once Julia had been able to get a little more of her horrific two-year ordeal off her chest, she was reduced to a mess of tears and sobs but some of that was down to the joy of finally being able to tell someone who had believed everything she'd said, and who was trying to support her.

"I'm sorry ya had to go through that, Jules." Ellis said softly, handing her a bottle of water before gingerly placing a hand on her back, "We'll take care of ya... We ain't gonna let him hurt ya ever again."

"Ya got that right, Ellis." Coach said warmly, offering Julia a soft smile, "We've got your back, darlin'."

"And let me promise you something right now." Nick spoke up from his place in the corner, earning a shocked look from the still very tearful Julia as well as everyone else, "If we get to New Orleans and come across that son of a bitch, he's gonna wish he'd never crawled out of his mother."

Julia couldn't help it. Despite her tears, despite the indescribable clusterfuck of emotions that she was trying to deal with at that moment, she let out a very big smile and a something that resembled a cross between a sob and a laugh. Coach, Ellis and Rochelle were relieved to see Nick offer her a small, but genuine smile in return.

"I was so scared of you guys finding out." Julia whispered, wiping at her eyes, "He always told me that if anyone found out, they'd never find my body..."

"Hey, what did we just promise you?" Rochelle murmured, squeezing her hand, "He's gotta get through us, and we're all prepared to tear him a new asshole or two for his trouble."

Once again, Julia let out a smile of relief and joy that finally, the secret was out, and she had people around her to help, who were more than willing to do so despite them barely knowing one another. After taking some time to calm down, she let Rochelle assess her injuries and Coach got everyone their evening meal, which the group ate gratefully.

They took this opportunity to use the bathroom in the safe room to try to clean themselves a little and their clothes. They all adjusted to wearing their new outfits which felt somewhat bizarre, especially when Nick emerged from the bathroom in a very smart, fitted charcoal polo shirt, fitted black slacks and a pair of black dress shoes with a faux leather jacket over his arm. He looked incredibly dressed down in comparison to how he'd looked when they first met him, but it wasn't a bad thing. At least his outfit was a little more practical. No-one questioned why he'd been carrying new shoes around, but at least he looked somewhat comfortable and not quite as dressy.

Rochelle had picked out a looser fitting grey top with slightly longer sleeves than her 'Depeche Mode' t-shirt, a new pair of skinny jeans and a black jacket, deciding to keep her black boots which she gave a quick clean to get some of the filth off of them. Ellis was now wearing dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt under an open blue-plaid shirt with long sleeves which he'd rolled up, and of course, his baseball cap remained on his head, nice and comfortable. Coach had grabbed a pair of grey pants, a light blue sweater and a black jacket just in case he'd need one, but he kept his same old shoes, not seeing a need to change them. Julia had picked a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, a faux leather jacket and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, along with a pair of boots not unlike Rochelle's. She decided that was one of her better judgement calls given the horror of running through sewer water in sneakers.

As the night grew darker, everyone tried to get comfortable on their sleeping bags, or in Julia's case, her mattress. Ellis was taking the first watch and was sitting close to the door, trying to pass the time by reading some random shitty magazine that had been amongst a small pile near the corner where Julia's mattress was. Julia, following the traumatic, yet liberating day she'd had, couldn't sleep. Her eyes were still a little puffy from her upset earlier on, but she looked much better than she had. After trying for about an hour to get comfortable, Julia sat up slowly, running her hand through her hair as she found herself feeling irritated by the fact that she couldn't sleep.

She slowly got up, drawing Ellis' eyes from the magazine she was holding to her own. She smiled warmly at him before getting up, bringing the blanket she'd managed to find in the back room of the store, and carefully trudged across to him without waking the others. She sat down slowly beside him as he set his magazine down, looking up at his handsome face which was cast in a warm glow by the small, battery-powered lantern that sat on the floor.

"Can't sleep?" He whispered, adjusting his shirt.

"No." She whispered back, "I have a lot going through my head right now."

"I can imagine." Ellis replied, ducking his head, "I'm sorry if we upset ya earlier... We were just tryin' to help."

"I know that." Julia reassured him gently, snuggling into her blanket, "It's alright. I was just shocked. I never meant for you guys to find out."

"And I'm sorry that your boyfriend didn't treat ya right." He said, his blush only just visible in the soft light, "It ain't right to treat your woman like he treated you. Beatin' ya and sayin' horrid things and makin' ya feel bad about yourself ain't right either. He don't deserve you at all."

Julia felt her throat tighten again. Ellis was such a sweetheart sometimes, and to hear him talk about her like that was very touching. Being supported rather than attacked was unusual but not unwelcome at all, and it made her feel very humbled that someone she barely knew was so willing to protect her and try to help her.

"That means a lot, El." She breathed out with a bright smile, "Thank you."

After a moment of quiet, as she adjusted the blanket around her shoulders, Julia let out a long and weary sigh. She didn't particularly want to sleep, although she knew it was a necessity. She tiredly rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn, leaning her head back against the wall. They sat in comfortable silence for a little while longer before Julia finally decided that she really ought to be trying to get some sleep.

"I should try and get some rest." She whispered, getting to her feet, "Goodnight, Ellis."

"Night, Jules." Ellis whispered back, watching her carefully step over the sleeping forms of Nick and Rochelle before carefully easing herself back onto her mattress.

Ellis smiled to himself, truly hoping that Julia was going to be okay now, and he turned back to his magazine while he waited until it was time to wake someone else for their turn on watch.

Suddenly, for Julia, being in a confined space with three men wasn't so scary anymore.

In the back of the stock car with Nick and Coach, she'd been much calmer and not as self-conscious or nervous as she had been, and everybody could see the improvement. Of course, it would take a long time to recover from the trauma of her abuse, but at least for now, she was in a better place thanks to finding that she could trust and confide in the people she was with. Nick's attitude was also improving, and he wasn't being as openly hostile and even at times he was being what could be considered as friendly, but he still liked to be sarcastic and a little mean at times to the others.

However, nobody missed the small half-smile that his lips quirked into when Julia fell asleep part-way through the journey and rested herself against his shoulder. That smile disappeared very quickly when he caught Coach giving him a rather big, almost-knowing smile. Nick had spent his time in the car trying to get his head around what exactly his feelings were for the people he was now teamed up with. He was finding it easier to be around them and to be nicer to them, and he was also finding it easier to trust them.

It was Julia, however, that had really caught his attention. He found himself feeling a lot of empathy with her and sympathy for her, and what she'd told them all about her two-year relationship with Kevin had struck a nerve with him because of what he'd gone through when he was younger. But, he also found that since he'd seen her do that beautiful little smile when she'd brushed her hair behind her ear, his gaze had been gravitating towards her more often than he'd like. He found himself wanting to be around her and wanting to work with her, and especially after the effort she went to with the hand sanitiser, he was fairly sure that what he was feeling was at the very least infatuation. And that troubled him, a lot.

"Oh, shit..."

The sound of Ellis' voice brought Nick out of his rather bothersome thoughts, and as he and the others leant closer together to see what was wrong, their jaws all dropped. The highway ahead was completely blocked by abandoned vehicles, some crashed, some burnt out, and some just sitting there as though their owners had simply parked them up and left them. Wandering around the area were a fair few zombies, who the group were far from keen to try and take on.

"Fuck..." Nick muttered, preparing to exit the car as everyone else got out to look at the way ahead.

When they got out and saw that the way was most definitely blocked, they looked between themselves with resignation. Rolling her eyes, Rochelle moved to open the trunk, and everybody got their bags and weapons ready for the long walk they had ahead of them.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, guys, but unless Ellis knows how to build a monster truck, we ain't driving through this." Nick said glumly, checking that his Magnum was fully loaded.

"Sorry, guys... I guess it wasn't such a hot idea after all." Ellis muttered.

"Don't sweat it, Ellis." Nick said, adjusting the sleeve of his new jacket, "At least you got us outta that mall."

Ignoring the shocked looks he received from the others, Nick set off walking, while Ellis took a moment to say his goodbyes to the car. Julia, who didn't really want Nick wandering off on his own, walked at his side, her M16 fully loaded and at the ready. Nick looked at her for a brief moment, feeling that awkward whirling in his stomach that made him feel a little bit queasy, and a little anxious.

"Hey, listen... Uh... I never..." He cleared his throat, "I never thanked you for saving me from that Charger."

"Oh..." Julia began, offering him a slightly forced smile before turning her gaze back to the way ahead, "There's no need to thank me. I just did what any of the others would've done."

"No, you didn't." Nick shook his head, "Really, none of the others would've shoved me out of the way and taken the hit themselves. So, thanks."

Julia swallowed hard. She couldn't help but feel uncomfortable because she wasn't used to being praised or thanked for anything, so the gratitude was hard to take, but she tried to accept them as best she could. She looked up at the conman, this time able to give him a more genuine smile which seemed to settle him a little too. It seemed the interaction had also been awkward for him.

Behind them, Coach nudged Rochelle, leaning in to whisper to her about how cute Nick and Julia looked together, and he received nothing but a confused and slightly disgusted look in return. Rochelle wasn't too keen on that idea. Nick wasn't really any woman's ideal man unless she was looking for no strings attached sex and for a man with no desire for commitment, but for an abused and battered woman like Julia, whose only experience with men was negative, Nick was the worst possible person to hook up with.

"Hey! Whisperin' Oaks!" Coach exclaimed joyfully, "Shit, I used to go there when I was a kid!"

"Oh, good!" Nick piped up from the front of the group, "Now we can die there as adults!"

When the group reached the first vehicles that were blocking the way ahead, they stopped and stared in pure horror. There were miles of parked vehicles, and the number of zombies that were stumbling around ahead was ridiculous. How they were going to make it through this, none of them knew, but they'd sure as hell try to.

Letting out a sigh of dread, the five of them shared looks of concern with each other, and they tried to get ready for the challenging walk ahead.

~ To Be Continued ~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for reading this so far!