A/N: Late, un-Beta'd again. I'm sorry. Enjoy? x.x
Disclaimer: I don't own L4D or any of the characters/world therein, 10 Things I Hate About You, or Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Frankie Valli
30 Day Challenge 4: On a Date
It never stopped being disturbing. The constant groans and growls. The banging and scraping of grayed, rotting flesh against eh reinforced metal of the safe house doors or, more recently, the sound of the chain link fence that kept the wandering dead from assaulting the four survivors in their new home. The constant stench of the dead, rotting corpses- both risen and not- and the dilapidated, moldy, collapsing buildings was bearable because it faded into the background. The sight of blood and decay could only be disturbing for so long before it stopped having any kind of shock and awe effect as the brain became desensitized to such macabre things. The sounds, the incessant sounds of the hungry dead, however never gadded into the background and never stopped being terrifying.
Days, weeks, months, years? If any of the survivors had been keeping track of how long they had spent on the run, in search of rescue or safe haven, none of them made mention of it. Even thought they had no idea how long they had been running, at least one of them had been keeping track of how long it had been since they had found an abandoned- over-run- prison to hold up in. It had taken a few weeks to clear the place out- double and triple checking to make sure they didn't miss anything- and to make it liveable.
Since the day they had decided to stop searching for rescue, Louis had been keeping track the days. He couldn't be too sure if he had the month or day exactly right, but it wasn't like there was anyone to correct him so it didn't matter if he was a little off. No one noticed the calender he had been making from things he had found in the warden's office and the library until almost a year later. A couple days before the one year mark, Francis wandered in on the former cubical drone.
"Hey, think you could," the biker stopped mid-sentence and looked the other man over. The sight of Louis in his usual outfit, hunched over a desk and writing out days, months, holidays and the like, made the tattooed man laugh, "Once a pencil pusher, always a pencil pusher, huh?"
Despite the jab- he knew Francis teased rough- Louis chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, man. I wouldn't go back to that even if the world went back to normal. I just wanted to keep track of our time here. You know, make it feel more normal."
A large hand rubbed at the stubs of hair that dotted the biker's head, in thought, "Oh, yeah? I never really knew what day it was before all this shit." He leaned over the desk, looking over the dates, "Are we really commin' up on one year?"
"Yep," Louis nodded. He grinned at his fellow survivor, not shocked that the other man wasn't thetype to give a shit about the date. He steered the conversation back to what he had been curious about since Francis walked in, "What did you need help with?"
Whatever it was was waed off, "Don't worry about it. I gotta go take care of some things..."
Zoey hugged, crossing her arms as she sat, alone, in the large cafeteria of the prison. Before the end of the world, she had been somewhat of a loner and wouldn't have been bothered, but everything she had seen and the constant sound of those things trying to get in and eat everyone made being alone infinitely less appealing. Still, Francis had left a note- who even did that, anyways?- asking her to meet him, so there she was. Waiting. Alone.
Twenty minutes dragged on before the ex-student got fed up enough to leave. Just as she stood, the lights all went out. Zoey froze, feeling like and idiot for not having brought her flash light and much, much worse for not having her gun on her. What if she needed it?
What if they had gotten through the two fences? Hadn't they been picking off zombies every day to keep enough of them from building up and knocking down the fence? What if Francis hadn't shown up because he was in trouble, or...? Why hadn't she heard any gunshots?
A soft white noise started; it would have been inaudible over the ambiant sounds of the dead if Zoey hadn't been on high alert. Her brain couldn't figure uot what the noise meant or where it was coming from until something far more recognizable burst through the static.
"You're just too good," Francis' voice, "To be true..." Francis' singing voice, "Can't take my eyes off of you."
Shocked, Zoey sank back down into the hard plastic chair at the table she had been waiting at.
She had never heard the biker sing before. His voice was just like she would have expected, probably more at home singing the blues or growling along to some metal song, but it wasn't too bad and definitely scored points on the cute meter. A small, almost awkward smile grew on her features. She hadn't smiled like that since before the dead stopped staying dead.
"You'd be like Heaven to touch... I wanna hold you so much..." the voice faded back to static.
The lack of song didn't last long as the double doors to the cafeteria burst open, bringing in a grinning biker, pushing a cart that held two plates with a candle between them, "I LOVE YOU BABY! AND, IF IT'S QUITE ALRIGHT, I NEED YOU BABY TO WARM THE LONELY NIGHT!"
"I LOVE YOU, BABY!" Zoey couldn't keep herself from joining in, "TRUST IN ME WHEN I SAAAAAAAAY!"
Francis let go of the cart and grabbed Zoey,hauling her out of her chair to dance with him. She could smell alcohol on his breath. Considering who she was dancing with, she would have been more surprised if he were sober. The two danced together like that, both yelling out the song and sounding equally horrible.
"OH PRETTY BABY! DON'T BRING ME DOWN! I PRAY, OH PRETTY BABY, NOW THAT I'VE FOUND YOU, STAY!"
The last line of the song became a muffled sound of surprise as Francis captured Zoey's lips with his own. He pulled her flush against him, her arms sliding aruond his neck. When the biker pulled back, it was only far enough to softly murmur to the brunette in his arms.
"So, let me love you, Baby, let me looooooooove yoooooooooou."
Soey grinned, having forgotten the constant moaning and all the little things lost as she stared up into sfot, stormy eyes, "I love 10 Thing I Hate About You."
Without anything to really say to that- the Hell was she talking about?- Francis leaned in and kissed her again.
They shared a simple meal by candle light- Francis' ability to sing far surpassing his ability to cook- to celebrate their first year living somewhere together. It didn't have much competition, but it was easily the best date of Zoey's life.