Sorry if this took forever! I was very busy, plus a case of the writer's block came to me. I'll post chapters as often as I can.
Note that I'm not going to stick extremely close to the actual gameplay, but go through the campaigns and their sections in order, with similar events as the gameplay.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER 2: Ellis, Not Elle
I felt my lungs burn for a break after ten minutes of pure running, the zombies a lot faster than we gave them credit for.
"Guys, the mall's up ahead. C'mon just keep running." Rochelle panted, bashing a zombie with the butt of her shotgun. It gargled then fell over.
"I'm almost out of ammo," Nick said, grunting in frustration.
I ran up to the mall door - the back entrance, to be exact - and flung it open, as the crew charged inside. I caught a whiff of Ellis as he ran through the door and I felt my stomach twist into a knot.
"Reloading," Coach said, and I heard the click-click of his bullets sliding into place in his shotgun.
We all reloaded, except for Nick. He was out of juice.
"You can have one of my pistols," I said to Nick, grabbing one of the pistols that were strapped to either side of my hips. He nodded and took it from me, careful not to touch my skin. Was he afraid of me?
"Thanks," he said.
"Anytime," I mumbled, reaching to my back and gripping the barrel of my shotgun, positioning it in my hands.
We then darted up the staircase, panting and huffing. There were moans and screeches from below us, and I was the one in the back. God, this world had gone to hell.
"You have your walkie-talkie, Elle?" Coach asked.
"Don't call me that," Ellis groaned, the Southern twang in his voice. "And yeah, I do."
"Good. Rochelle, Nick, and I are going to go look for an exit. Take Holly and go find med-packs. If you guys get in trouble, hit me up."
Ellis nodded and grinned. Rochelle waved a quick goodbye as she turned and started bolting down the hall left as Ellis and I took off right. He glanced at me and grinned.
"What?" I asked, taking in a quick breath. I had little stamina.
"Nothin'." He said, cocking his shotgun and taking the lead. I just rolled my eyes and followed.
We slowed, and I heard the shuffle of feet and faint moans.
He took the right side of the door, and I took the left. The bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling created little light, and I could barely see anything.
Ellis looked at me, then mouthed, "One… two… three."
We filed into the room, and I instantly reached for the light on the end of my gun, pitch darkness enveloping me. Bodies yelped and charged for me. I felt something grab my arm and heard the sharp clip of teeth. Yanking myself free, I followed the light that my gun emanated. Ellis was twenty feet ahead, grabbing a med-pack and strapping it to his back. I guessed I was the backup.
"C'mon Holly!" Ellis ordered, and I shoved my way through the room, avoiding moist cardboard boxes and blood-thirsty zombies.
I turned and shot a walking corpse that was tailgating me in the face. It fell to the ground lifelessly then made a hollow clunk as its skull hit the ground.
I could barely see in the light, but Ellis smirked at me then said, "Good job, kid."
The corner of my mouth curled into a courteous grin.
"Where to?" He asked, the hallway quiet and zombie-free.
"I have no clue." I replied, a tone of frustration in my voice. "You should know."
Ellis raised both eyebrows then pursed his lips. "True, true."
We slowed to a cautious walk then rounded a corner. We were going to chit-chat until a room allowed came upon us.
"So where you from?" Ellis asked.
"I lived in Pooler for a while then came to visit my aunt and uncle here." I sighed. "But right after I got settled, this damned zombie situation came up and the next thing I knew my whole family had scattered throughout Georgia."
Ellis nodded.
"What about you?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Lived in Savannah my whole life. Never thought somethin' like this would happen, ya know?" I kept looking at him intently. "Well, all of my family seemed to disappear after zombies came. I been lookin' for 'em every time we all searched the city." He rubbed his chin then scratched the back of his neck. "Hopefully we all get out of this alive."
I nodded, completely agreeing.
We both turned another corner, only to run into five zombies. They all turned their heads, hissing then charging. They were easily taken care of, and we found a new room. Right on, I thought.
Five med-packs. Just our luck.
"Hey, Ellis," the walkie-talkie spoke through static.
Ellis holstered his shotgun, retrieved the walkie-talkie from his belt and clicked the receiver button. "Hey, Coach. What ya' need?"
Coach sighed heavily on the other end. "We found an exit. But it's all the way down there. You better be fixin' on gettin' over here, there's a shit-load of zombies headin' your way."
"That's a big 10-4, buddy! We'll be there soon."
Ellis strapped the walkie-talkie back in his belt, turned, and looked at me.
"So we're in for it?" I asked, leaning against the wall off to his left.
"Not if you're ready." He smiled and un-holstered his shotgun.
We were halfway there; so far, no zombies. Where were the zombies Coach had warned us of?
"Hey," I said quietly. It was eerily silent, the soft cracks and clinks of worn fuses and wires.
"Yeah?" Ellis said. He turned to look at me, and his features were dimly lit by the dull light from above.
"How long will it be 'til we get to the exit?"
Ellis shrugged, and continued walking. He took the lead.
Zombies were annoying. They were like the friend in high school that was stuck to your ass - they never went away.
"You hear that?" I asked.
Ellis nodded, motioning his head for me to follow. I crept carefully behind him, almost too close. Being by myself the last few weeks had been paranoia, and now that I had people, they were an addiction.
My eyes widened.
A Charger.
"Ellis," I said, trying to keep quiet. I saw the figure at the end of the hall, back turned to us, huffing.
"I know," he whispered, glancing back at me.
I felt my insides somersault. Chargers were just… odd.
The Charger sniffed, grunted, then turned around and stared at us. It was two seconds before it started careening down the hall towards us.
"Fuck!" I shrieked, my voice soaring a couple of octaves. "Run!"
"No, shoot!" Ellis said, cocking his shotgun and letting bullets rip. The Charger did not falter; only kept charging. The metal shelves in the hall tumbled over as the Charger brushed past them.
"I-I'm almost out of bullets," I stammered, shotgun in my hands as I let my last bullets go free into the Charger's head.
The beast snarled. Its (good) arm came up and thrashed down, sending Ellis back into the wall.
"Ellis!" I yelped, looking frantically back between the Charger and Ellis. His face was scrunched up in momentary pain, as he rubbing the back of his head. His white and blue hat was on the ground in front of him.
"Shoot the damn thing!" Ellis grunted, grabbing his shotgun.
"I'm out!" I retorted, giving him a death glare. He only grinned and cocked his shotgun.
I groaned, tossing my shotgun to the ground and reaching for my pistol. It was close to useless, considering pistol bullets weren't very powerful against beasts like this.
Clicking the hammer back and outstretching my arms, I let a full clip loose into the Charger's head. It made a weird grunt noise then fell over.
"Woo," I cheered quietly, strapping my pistol back into my hip holster. Only one clip left.
"Good job, kid!" Ellis grinned.
"Thanks." I said somewhat blandly. Dealing with these infected fucks damn near 24/7 took a toll on your physical health as well as your emotional and mental.
We scanned the messy hall for anything. I found a bottle of Boomer Bile, - my past experiences telling me not to pick it up - a few lone pistol shells that wouldn't fit my model, a box of shotgun shells, and a jar of hot-sauce.
"Ready?" Ellis asked.
I rose up, securing everything in my waist holster. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"Hey Coach, where are you?" I asked over the walkie-talkie, after countless minutes of pointless arguing with Ellis whether we should have picked the jar of hot-sauce up or not.
"Hey, Holls. We're on the first floor, on the far end." Coach said in his husky voice. "We've found something useful."
"Like?" I asked.
"A car."
Ellis' face lit up. "A car?"
Coach laughed from the other end. "Yes, Ellis."
I gave the walkie-talkie to Ellis. "Hey, we're almost at the center of the mall, Coach. Want us to meet you there?"
"Yeah, Elle."
"Don't call me that," Ellis said, scratching the back of his neck. "What ever happened to the escape plan?"
"The car is a better option. I saw gas cans scattered everywhere when we ran by on the second floor." Coach said.
"I'll be damned!" Ellis piped up, excited.
"So meet us here - soon."
"Roger that!" Ellis said. His face contrasted from happy and excited to questioning. "Say, what did you mean earlier that zombies were on their way for us?"
"You didn't run into a few hordes?"
Ellis said, "No siree."
"Oh…"
There was a long silence.
I grabbed the walkie-talkie out of Ellis' hands, his skin warm and calloused, and spoke to Coach. "Hey Coach, we'll be there soon. Try not to get killed."
Coach chuckled. "Already trying."
I handed the walkie-talkie back to Ellis. He raised an eyebrow at me. I just nodded, smirking.
"You're different than I thought you'd be," Ellis said.
"Aw shucks," I said sickeningly sweetly in a Southern accent just like his own. "Thank you!"
He shook his head and fixed his cap, and in a swift second we were on our way to meet the others.
