First time I played L4D, I expected Francis to die from friendly fire every time. I almost managed to with an autoshotty, but everyone told me not to. Shame, I'd rather bunk with Church Guy than fight alongside Francis.

I wonder if Jason could do it for me.

Chapter 6: Loss of Function

~Katelyn~

"I'm still not comfortable having that Hunter around," I heard Francis mutter as I drowsily awoke. Jason was still curled up next to me, sleeping, so I silently crept off the bed. I pressed my ear against the door to listen in on whatever was going on outside.

"I know you don't want him around, but as long as he is he can be a big help to us," Zoey argued. Just from the sound, I could tell they were downstairs. "I could care less, he's still one of those damn vampires-"

"Zombies," Louis corrected.

"I don't fucking care! He can kill us whenever he wants and that damn girl's still going to defend the monster!" he yelled back, but quiet enough so Jason didn't wake up. "He is not going to kill us," Zoey snapped, "The poor kid's probably too scared of us to if he wanted to, anyway."

"I still don't like him..." Francis muttered, "and I'm going to break both his and the girl's neck if something happens."

I slowly grabbed the P226 off the table next to the door. I wanted to fill Francis's head full of lead. How did the rest of his group not do that already? Maybe Bill would of...

I heard the window smash behind me, and turned to see Jason, in tears, jump out.

"GODDAMNIT FRANCIS!" I screamed, jumping out and climbing down to the road to catch up. Jason was easily faster than me, even without leaping, but I kept going.

The loud roar stopped me when I saw a Charger blindside me, and I was slammed into the side of a wall. My vision blurred from my head hitting the brick, but I still managed to pull out a knife and stab the underside of the Charger's arm, making him let me go almost instantly.

The Charger swung its fist at me, sending me back into the wall, as it charged into a new target. I heard Jason shriek, then winced at the sound of skull hitting metal. I picked up my fallen P226 and emptied the clip into the Charger's head. It fell almost immediately, and Jason slowly sat up, dazed but otherwise OK.

"What happened?" Francis asked, running outside, and I glared at him. "We could hear you, you son of a bitch," I hissed, and he had a pained look on his face.

"Look, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean-"

"Just SHUT UP, you greasy, washed up ASSHOLE!" I interrupted, using what Nick called him. Francis hated Nick, and so did I, but agreeing with the shit-suited conman would really hit the biker.

"Kate!" Zoey called, following behind Francis. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's Jason that you should worry about," I said a bit sharper than I meant, but luckily Zoey didn't catch on, and she helped Jason get to his feet. Jason made something that sounded like an "Ow," and pointed to the back of his head. "I know, you have a mild concussion," Zoey said calmly to him, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's get back inside."

Tears began to form on Jason's face as he and Zoey walked by Francis, who was still shocked at what I said. Once the two were inside with Louis, Francis looked at me with absolute hate. "You take that back," he threatened. I simply spat at his shoes. "Bite me, 'Cop.'"

The biker swung a fist at me, to which I easily dodged, and landed a kick to his groin. He collapsed onto the ground in pain, groaning. Down before the fight even begins.

"If you even think about hurting Jason," I hissed in his ear, "I will not hesitate to shoot an entire clip into your big ass mouth." I made sure he watched as I ran up the wall of the house, grabbed on the window, and climbed in after a one-finger salute.

~Jason~

He hates me... He called me a monster... Is that what people thought of me? A monster?

'That's all they see you as. A monster,' a voice said. I looked around, confused, but nobody was in the bedroom with me. 'Maybe you should show him what such a monster can do.' I realized it was my thoughts, except... at the same time, it wasn't...

"Who are you?" I wanted to ask, but it only came out in whines and growls. Can't speak, I keep forgetting.

'You, of course,' it spoke back. It was all growls, yet I understood it perfectly. Was my mind messing with me? Or was this the infection? 'Francis wants to kill you, and Louis is afraid of you.'

"But-"

'And Zoey only pretends to be nice so Katelyn is happy.'

"Liar!" I yelled back in screeches, tears welling up. 'Katelyn wants to find the cure. But there is none. And she'll probably just kill you once she finds that out.' I broke down, covering my ears. "Leave me alone..." I felt like tearing my ears out of my head, but my hands couldn't do it. Every part of my body shook in... What was this? Weakness? Fear?

'They want to KILL YOU, idiot...' the voice growled, and my tears started to stop. The smell of humans grew stronger. The orange tint in my vision grew, and... I could see them... through the walls...- No, it was Katelyn! Don't!

"Don't go in there yet," Louis's voice said outside the room, and I could see his figure move to talk on the other side of the wall. "He sounds pissed, I'd let him calm down, or whatever is going on."

'KILL THEM YOU IDIOT... they are WEAK...' the voice cackled. My stomach growled in hunger, but not like normal, when I could eat just about anything to help it. I was craving the humans outside that door... my mouth began to water at the scent of... Louis? And... Zoey... And, and Katelyn... And...

Him... Francis.

I wanted to kill him first. He would be the first to die. Growls escaped my throat as the memory of what he said came back. I could already taste his bloody insides, and there was nothing I wanted more than the real thing.

"...that damn girl's gonna defend the monster..."

No, I wasn't the monster, he was. He had to be... you don't call anyone a monster when they're a few feet away... he knew I could hear him, too! He wanted me to hear that, didn't he?! No, he couldn't have... But... he did... 'Yes, if you kill him, you'll feel a hundred times better! Francis is trying to hurt you.' No... Nonono I wasn't going to fall for it again... They were my friends... Right?...

Dark spots started forming in my vision, and it took everything to stay awake. Go away, you stupid voice... 'You can't escape what you are. You aren't Jason! Jason died when Katelyn left him alone in that room! You should avenge him!' No... it was all lies... I was Jason, what else could I be?! I died when the virus killed me... but... I wasn't dead, I was here, or... but... Katelyn... needs to live... Please...no...

My legs started to twitch as I noticed I've been crouched since I got in here. The watering in my mouth turned to blood... Why was that...? Oh, I've been biting... biting my tongue... I need something else to bite.

Weren't there humans outside...? Yesyesyes, there were! I could smell them... No, no I'd let... her down... Kate... Katelyn? Maybe... just this once... She could... understand... right?

No... Too hungry... She hated... biker, so did... Other girl, other guy, didn't like... him... she... he... they... would let me... Kill... 'Go ahead. Kill him.'

Killhimkillhimkillhim... he needs to die... Yes... First.. need to break door...

"Jason? Are you okay in there?"

~Zoey~

"Jason? Are you okay in there?"

I was leaning against the door, pressing my ear against it to listen. Jason started making... odd noises since I put him in there. First, they were sobs and whines, but they started to get weird... he began growling to himself, or grunting at something, like he was talking to somebody, yet nobody was in there.

He giggled when I asked that, growling back. It seemed playful, but in his current state I was worried he was going insane. "Jason, stop, you're scaring us." He stopped suddenly, and let out a threatening growl at me. Why?! What the hell was going on in there?! Louis limped next to me, knocking on the door. "Hey, Jason," he said, "you're scaring us, come on, kid."

It seemed to calm the little Hunter down, and he began growling softly back... was he trying to talk to Louis? "I think he's trying to talk," I whispered.

Francis had stumbled in the house a while ago holding his crotch, and now he was leaning against the opposite wall, grumbling about something stupid. I could practically hear Jason breathing through the wall, most of it ending as a growl.

Katelyn finally returned after blowing off some steam, and was about to burst into Jason's room before I stopped her. "What?!" she demanded. Apparently she didn't blow off enough steam, her fingers still twitched around the trigger of the shotgun, and was glaring at me like I had a death wish.

"Shhh," I whispered, listening to Jason behind the door again. Katelyn noticed it, too, and her rage dissolved into worry. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Your pet Hunter's finally goin' insane," Francis joked, and narrowly avoided Katelyn slamming the butt of her gun into his face. "Wuss," he snickered, and I held Kate back before she could do anything else. "Francis, just shut up!" I yelled. "No! And I've had it with that goddamn Hunter too!" he roared back, picking up his auto shotgun. I could see Kate's face change to horror as he speed walked towards the door separating him from Jason. "No- NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kate screamed, wriggling out of my grip.

But before Francis could shoot the door down, Jason screeched as he lunged through it, tackling Francis and sending them both to the ground. The kid's mouth was dripping in drool and... blood?

Jason swatted Francis's gun out of his hands, and instead of what I expected Hunters to do, he continuously smashed Francis's head into the floor.

That was worse.

"Jason, get off of him!" I yelled, kicking the Hunter off him. He rolled away, looking up at me from behind the now bloody hood, and growled, baring his teeth. What happened?! Before I could ask, he lunged onto me, and I held my hand up as he pinned me down and tore at my arm, trying to reach my neck. Francis was right... he's become one of them...

"Jason, get off of Zoey!" Katelyn finally spoke up, and the Hunter froze when he heard her voice. I used this to punch him in the face, making him stumble back. I jumped up just as he leaped for me again, aiming for my throat. I closed my eyes, waiting for the claws to dig into my throat, but it never came.

Katelyn jumped in front of me, and somehow she managed to wrestle Jason to the ground. "Jason, STOP IT!" Jason stopped struggling, and was staring up at Katelyn, at first in anger, but it changed to confusion and shock. She slowly got off of him as he huddled into the corner, crying. I looked over to the unconscious Francis, and checked his head. Odds are he'd have a concussion after that. Jason managed to make his head BLEED, and he was barely half his size.

I ignored the pain in my bleeding arm as I wrapped bandages around his head. "No... no... no..." Jason whined behind me, surprising all of us. "Did he just talk?" Louis asked, getting up from when Jason knocked him over lunging at Francis.

Jason was completely ignoring everything around him, curling up and staring off into space. The only person he was responding to was Katelyn, who was only a little less shocked.

"What the fuck was that?!" I asked, staring at the Hunter in disbelief. "I... he... I think he got mad at Francis and... the infection just took over..." Kate muttered, comforting Jason, who continued to whisper "No..." "Zoey, just... go clean up your arm..." she whispered, and I nodded, grabbing another first aid kit to wrap my arm up. Jason wasn't as sane as we thought.

Author's Note

Hello! If you're reading this, thanks for staying with my story, from the shitty starting to the dramatically improved remake. I promise it'll get better as it goes on. 1000 views might not seem like a lot to some people, but to me that's an amazing feat. My first visitor for Newcomers was from Singapore! Thank you, Singapore reader!

Katelyn: I assume this is where you'll let people ask questions?

Me: Yeah, why not? Seems like a fun way to interact with readers, maybe even meet people that want to play a round or two on Steam.

Katelyn: That doesn't sound like a disaster waiting to happen. Hey, how come we're having this conversation without Jason?

Me: He can't speak, all he can say is things like Yes or No.

Katelyn: Eh, fair point.

So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

Don't get bit out there

Pyro