Author's notes - Hopefully this chapter will be a bit longer than the last one. A bit more of the flashback in the beginning, but it'll go back to the present later on. Reviews are always appreciated! :)
Disclaimer - I wish I owned Left 4 Dead.
The sun was starting to rise over the forests' treeline. The smoke from the night before being the only evidence of a recent campFire. All was silent. There wasn't even a sign of life coming from the two tied up Infected, who had passed out sometime in the middle of the night. There was no disturbance at all.
Until the farmhouse door swung open and the click of a shotgun's safety being released was heard.
Both Infected nearly jumped out of their skin as the loud 'BOOM' of the shotgun sounded throughout the entire area, the forest finally coming to life as startled birds and the Hunter's pained howl broke the tranquil quiet.
"Ah, shut up!" Another blast from the shotgun, this time mere inches from the Hunter's face. The Infected gave a quiet yelp and softly whimpered, not daring to anger this dangerous human further.
The man slung his gun over his shoulder and grabbed a beer from the cooler he was carrying. While he chugged down half of his beer in one gulp, he walked over to the pickup truck parked near a forest trail and started the ignition while putting the cooler and shotgun in the passenger seat.
He chugged the rest of his beer before turning around and glaring at the two Infected.
"Y'know, I should just shoot the both of you now, so anyone passing by don't have to deal with the two of ya." He looked up at the sky where a flock of crowswere circling overhead. "But, I think I'll just leave ya to the birds. They'll get good pickin's out of you."
He laughed at the paniced looks from the Infected before getting in his truck and rolling down the window while starting to drive away.
"It's been fun, but I gotta get to the safe zone before this baby runs out of gas. Later freaks!" He chucked the empty beer bottle out the window and hit the gas, laughing some more when he saw the bottle shatter on the Smoker's shoulder through the rearview mirror.
The last thing the Hunter and Smoker saw of him was his middle finger hanging out the once again.
The Hunter had tolerated the humans carrying him inside the farmhouse and laying him down on the couch. What he didn't tolerate was having his pants cut with the sharp, shiny object the gruff looking man insisted on using. After a slight struggle though, one hard shove from the man was all it took to get the Hunter to stop resisting their help. He still squirmed in discomfort every now and then, but the pink hooded girl seemed content with gently squeezing his shoulders and petting his arm, soothing words even coming from her mouth whenever he whimpered.
Once Francis had cut the sweatpants up to the knee, his usual pessimism came back. "Y'know, I may be a cop, but I ain't no doctor. Unless you know how to stitch up this thing's ankle, I might as well just amputate it."
"What? No! We're not amputating his foot Francis! And as a matter of fact, I DO know how to stitch wounds. It was kind of a requirement to take a first aid class at my college."
Francis stared at Zoey with a look of disbelief on his face (and obvious disappointment), before looking up to where Louis and Bill were tending to the still unconsious Smoker. "Are you guys done yet? Doctor Zoey over here is probably gonna need some of the supplies your hogging!"
Louis merely made an 'Uh-huh' sound before tossing a roll of bandages over his shoulder and continuing with his work on the Smoker.
Zoey caught the roll and stared at the small amount of wrap they had given her. "Umm, are there any more bandages? Maybe a full roll instead of this little thing?" She unrolled the remainder of the wrap, which turned out to be only two-three feet long. "This isn't going to be long enough to cover the entire injury."
"I'm sorry kid," Bill said without looking away from the Smoker, "But those are the last badages we have. We had to use the rest on the Smoker's face." Both Bill and Louis finally got up, revealing the Infected's face covered in almost all the badage wraps they had, including some for the Smoker's wrists.
"Can I amputate it's leg now?" Francis had to duck to avoid the small roll of bandages Zoey threw at him.
"You're not going to amputate his leg!" She turned away from a snickering Francis and back to Bill and Louis. "Guys, are there any needles and string over there? At least I'll still be able to stitch up his leg."
As Louis went to grab the supplies for Zoey, Bill sat down in a nearby armchair and lit up another cigarrette. After a few puffs, he sighed and stated, "We can't stay here for long. This place is not equipped with enough food and there's no water coming out of the sinks. Whoever was here last also must've taken any real medical equipment we could've used. We're gonna have to find another safe house. Or if we're lucky, a safe zone."
Zoey looked up from her stitchwork with a look of pity in her eyes. "What about these two though? Are we just gonna leave them here?"
"Oh, stop worrying so much about them! They'll be back on their feet trying to kill us in no time!"
"...Shut up Francis." Bill honestly didn't want to deal with this immature child right now. "We could try to take them with us, but if we come across a safe zone, we're gonna have to let them go. There's just no way they'll be allowed to follow us in."
Zoey nodded in understanding and turned her attention back to the Hunter, who was now staring at her curiously. "You understand that I'm trying to help you right? I'm not here to hurt you."
She had fully expected her words to be heard on deaf ears, but a small nod from the Hunter made not only her, but the other three look on in astonishment.
"It...it understood you..." Louis muttered mostly to himself.
Bill immediately got up from the chair and stood over Zoey and the Hunter, steely blue eyes meeting feral red ones. "You understand us?"
The Hunter seemed more hesitant this time, due to the fact that now everyone was eyeing him. He fidgeted a bit, almost causing Zoey to prick him with the needle. After a few seconds though, he nodded again.
Bill bent down so that he was at eye level with the Infected and asked, "Do you know the way out of this forest?"
The Hunter eyed the human before breaking eye contact and lifted a clawed finger to point out the window. Louis, being the closest to the specified window, went over and looked outside. "Guys! There's a dirt trail leading away from the forest! That's our ticket out of here!" After squinting his eyes a little, Louis added, "I also see tire tracks and they look pretty fresh."
Bill got up and moved over to the window, peering out as well. "Well, it looks like we not only found our way out of this forest, but we might've also just found out where the monster who tortured them went." The veteran turned back to look at Zoey and the Hunter only to notice that the Smoker was awake and studying all of them, it's good eye landing on him last. After a few moments of brief silence, Bill extended a hand over to the Smoker. "Will you lead us to the person who did this to you?"
The Smoker stared at the outstretched hand in front of him before looking back up at Bill and grabbing his hand with a firm grip. The veteran pulled the Infected off the couch and waited until the Smoker was stable on his feet before turning back to look at Zoey and the Hunter.
"Hurry up with that stitching Zoey. We have a lot of ground to cover in a very short span of time."
Author's notes - Okay, so maybe its not much longer than the last chapter, but hey, its something. Besides, now I get to write about the confrontation that's gonna happen in the next chapter! Ooooh suspense!
-RulerofFire