And so here we are.
Chokehold has already ended, for better or worse. If you want more of it, you won't have it, I'm sorry to say. What you're reading now is a retrospective and introspective look on the story itself, something I've been struggling with for two and a half years. If that's not something you're interested in, just go back to reading the first chapter or something.
So, I started this story back in June 2012. The reason for this was simple: I simply liked the Left 4 Dead universe enough to, and Valve went pretty lax with the canon so that I could pretty much do anything I wanted. That's not one hundred percent true of course, but bless Valve anyways. So I wanted to write a fanfiction, and I have to decide on a cast. Naturally the main character has to be female, there's no argument to be made on this front. Between the cast of the first and second game, I found the first game to be a lot more compelling due to the sheer amount of screen time they have (a bunch of main campaigns as well as add-ons that were later released), and the fact that their backstory was so fleshed out with the comics.
Thus, came Zoey, the only logical choice for a protagonist.
Being honest, I didn't know how far this would go. There was a time gap in the comic that stretches from Bill's death to the group's arrival and Florida Keys. There was no mention of them meeting the second game's group, although of course that's completely canon. So I took the liberty of doing it myself. I won't go too much on a recap, because that's what the story is for, but there will be some explanation of decisions. To be honest, a lot of the things I wrote years before I completely forgot about, so there happened to be some problems with the continuity as well as characterisation in the story. I have to apologise for such a thing.
Bill's death was a perfect plot device, as horrible as that sounds. Forcing changes is good, and it's even better when you're not willy-nilly killing off canon characters (I'll get to this later). It leaves room for people to grow, especially Zoey in this case, which just makes my job easier. I suppose I should keep this to be as coherent as possible, and go over characters and plots.
For a quick talk about the second game's cast, it's pretty clear that Ellis (can't believe I had to google his name just now) had an attraction for Zoey. Now if you know me, something like that would never get anywhere. However, I must admit I handled a lot of their interactions quite poorly, and this extends to all of L4D2's casts, not just the farm boy. They had no personality, and instead act mostly like a self-deprecating unit. It was fine for cheap humour, but at the end of the day I'm quite disappointed with myself.
The second set of side characters, as you've noticed, are all original. This is a lot less damning than other fantasy fanfictions I've written, because this world is heavily based on the real one. They consisted of Josh, Emmy, Michael, Dave, George, Jessica, and the kid. If you feel like most of these names are unfamiliar, they should be, although I hope you at least remember Dave and Jessica. These people were created because I needed a conflict, since infected was getting old (this will be tackled later). I've always found it really convenient that survivors never really had to shoot each other, despite obvious conflict of interests between groups. It also served as a good bridge from cautious, but slightly hopeful mentality into damning, none-but-us. Originally, I wanted Jessica to be the one who shot Dave out of mercy, and then joined the group. However, I soon realised I didn't have the capacity nor time to build up someone like that, and thus I had Dave kill her instead. This aimed to create a serious punch towards the killing of living people, and I have to say it was a choice I'm glad I made. It served a much better purpose.
Then came the last set of side characters: Captain Washington, Lieutenant Bailey, the unnamed men (all men) of the SEAL team, as well as the unnamed refugees. I tend not to give random people names if I'm never going to refer to them again, so if you're wondering, then that would be the explanation. Washington was made to be the villain of the beginning of the fourth arc, and honestly he wasn't done very well. He was extremely one-dimensional despite the screen time he received. There was motivation, for sure, but he ended up being more of a painful slapstick at the end of the day. Also he shot Zoey's right arm off, which was also a plot device. He was the convenient package, for lack of a better word, and I'm honestly not sure how to improve that.
Bailey was there only as a mean of communication. I originally wanted to have a battle between the soldiers and Zoey's group, but it proved to be a terrible idea in practice. A hundred well-trained SEAL teams operatives against a convict, an office guy, a disabled teenage girl and a Witch? This isn't some silly action film. That would be insanely dumb, unless I want the group itself to die, which was out of the question. So instead the fourth arc ended with the major battle, which lent itself well enough for my purpose. I wanted to end the story after the fourth arc, so that was good adequate.
A little bit more about characters. First, let's talk about Francis. His primary role was the comic relief, just as he was in the games themselves. His attitude was fairly helpful in pointing out a few details that was rather obvious, but needed to be said. Overall Francis seemed to have become quite a bit more serious by the end, and the friendship he gradually developed with Louis aimed to contrast that. It was a throwback to the comics, in a way, and left me a lot of room to handle things. He was the go-to guy for action, even from a writer's point of view. Actually, the group dynamic were: protagonist – odd one – action guy – words guy. I know that's a very crude way of putting it, but no one overlapping someone else's role in the story was extremely important. At the end of the day, I'm glad Francis is always ready to get shit done.
Louis, on the other hand, didn't do a whole lot. He wasn't part of the raid on the department store at the end of the second arc, he wasn't part of the scout group at the beginning of the third arc, and he wasn't with the exposition duo with Bailey in the fourth arc. However, his job was primarily to talk, and establish connections. He was a very good glue of the team, being someone who had the most time bonding with everyone. He was a friend to everyone else, and I needed someone for that job. He was also the one chosen as a sacrifice during the end of the fourth arc. Now, a few readers have expressed their feeling of the last chapter as 'rushed', and Louis' death being unexpected. That's partially my fault, since I planned the epilogue as the true last chapter for closure, and no one else but me could've known that at the time.
As for his death, I simply needed someone to die. I wanted to get across the point that in a world like this, you just don't win. The first arc started with Cindy joining the team, but none other had ended quite so upbeat. The second arc involved Zoey being strapped to a bed for months, barely escaping death. The third arc involved the death of the entire museum group, and the fourth arc needed a deeper punch. That said, either Louis or Francis could've served as an appropriate catalyst for this purpose. Here's how I decided: I flipped a coin. You may say: 'but that's not your decision, it was random!' That's not how I flip coins. I flip coins because I know that by the time the coin lands, I'll discover what the choice I really wanted was. Louis died because his death meant more than Francis'. Cindy actually had no interaction with the biker previously, and leaving him alive left room for further development. Sorry, Louis.
Cindy was a very peculiar case. Since this was a semi science fiction piece, I have to establish a lot of rules when it comes to putting a Witch in the group. I chose to keep all of a standard Witch's physical traits: the red eyes, claws, super strength, but gave her the ability to speak, and a blank, child-like personality. I made an effort to not forget about these key differences, and brought them in where relevant. However, I can honestly say that very often I tend to forget that Cindy's a Witch. Every time I type "the Witch", it's a self-reminder. She's grown quite a lot, becoming more independent and reliable, instead of a blubbing uncontrollable mess. This was the only time I've put, in fanfiction, an original characters as a main one. It's something I tend to steer away from, because it tends to violate a lot of the relationships that the original characters have from canon. However, this was a conscious experiment, and it turned out well enough. Some may wonder why I even needed Cindy – or any Witch – as part of the group in the first place. It's for the underlying hope, of course. I've always thought I could do a natural, mature relationship better than shoehorned romance often seen in action films and low-quality fiction, so came Cindy.
Now an entirely new paragraph is needed. Her relationship with Zoey was something I agonised over quite a bit. In Chokehold, romance is not the overtone, and I'd be a fool if I thought otherwise. It would be a great disservice to the potential of the game series. So, I didn't even write in a kiss. Of course, while it wasn't ever explicitly stated, it is quite obvious that the two of them have a romantic relationship. It wasn't planned to be in the spotlight, however, so it isn't. At the end of the day, that's how I feel it should.
Lastly, we have Zoey, the protagonist. I have to say thanks to Valve again for not making her a blabbing teenager, but a girl with losses, youth and actual emotions. It allows her a lot of room for growth, and honestly that's one of the reasons having her as a main character was so appealing. The zombies (infected, actually, but let's not get technical now) were never really anything more than a plot device at this point. The deal is zombies make good video games, but no so much literature. The impending horde of doom can only be menacing in so many ways without having to resort to jump scares or Doom in word version. The first and second arc were against zombies already, and honestly any more of that without variation would've driven me insane. So, Zoey was allowed to have her resolve tested time and again, and for her ideals to be challenged until she figures her own direction. It needs to be something that wasn't youth-based ideals, nor something that Bill told her. There's actually a lot less to say about Zoey that I haven't already spoken at length about in the story itself, so I'll leave at here.
Now to clear up some things. The ending of the prologue is meant to demonstrate that there was still someone out there sending telegraphs. It's somewhat of an open ending, not that there's ever any need for such a thing. It is hint of a possible sequel? The answer is no. Is a possible sequel likely? The answer is also no. I don't think there's anything left to tell that could warrant a sequel, unless L4D3 comes out in 2015 and I could wriggle this into that. Otherwise, that's a no. I will, however, be rewriting major parts of the earlier chapters to fit with the story as a cohesive units, as well as fixing some inconsistencies that was brought about due to the nature of chapterly updates. I'll leave the original version, in all of its pre-editing plot-hole glory, up on the site. The final version of the story, along with all of my other ones, will eventually be found on my profile page.
It's quite a strange feeling. Half a year ago I had four ongoing stories that I was overwhelmed by. Now, one went on hiatus and three others have ended. I only have the new Silverlite as active now, and it's quite a strange experience. Perhaps I'll start yet another series for the sake of love.
We'll see.