OK, I rewrote that last part. It was too serious and retarded. So. Humor to the rescue!
Also I really hope you guys like the Adrenaline part. I had a lot of fun writing it, since those thoughts are pretty much the same as mine whenever I use a shot in L4D2 on the coaster. Or just anywhere.
There might be a delay for the next two chapters, since I fail at remembering the layout of the fourth part of Dark Carnival, and I'm not sure what I'll do for the finale. I was also thinking of ending it after Dark Carnival, but then I had an idea of a transition into Swamp Fever. So...let me know what you think.
P.S. Haaaaaa now I have an excuse to play L4D2 even MORE.
Nick was not looking forward to going through a Tunnel of Love. Those crappy rides were bad enough on their own, when they didn't have zombies and assorted freaks populating them.
"All right, people, we're heading through the Tunnel of Love!" Coach announced. "No hanky panky!"
Nick gradually became aware that the other three were staring pointedly at him.
"What?" he snapped. "Why are you looking at me?"
"Well, Nick, you just sorta have that…look," Ellis explained.
"What look?" Nick demanded.
"You know," Coach tried to help awkwardly, "that…"
"That sleazy look," Rochelle finished with a smile.
He raised his eyebrows at her, and she grinned even more.
"Sleazy look?" he repeated. "You people consider a three thousand dollar suit sleazy?"
"Possibly," Rochelle spoke up again. "You brag all the time about how much your suit costs. You probably just bought it to get laid."
"And to look nice," Nick added. "That was important, too."
"Let's just get a move on, people," Coach interrupted. "We have a ways to go."
"Hey Ellis," Nick said as Coach opened the door. "Did you see that sign out front? Cousins-only day! You could have brought your girlfriend!"
"Ha ha."
"That was a pretty relaxing safe room," Rochelle mused as they left it behind.
Nick glanced back over his shoulder at it. "Yeah, it was pretty nice."
He noticed Rochelle was taking in the faux-romantic décor, making grimaces and other faces that indicated she was not pleased with her surroundings.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" he asked, smirking. "This isn't something from your wildest fantasies?"
She gave him a look. "If all Tunnel of Love rides are like this, I will never ride one. This isn't romantic at all, it's just ridiculous. Swan-shaped boats? Come on."
Up ahead, Coach was talking about how he had gotten plenty back when he was a football player.
"Probably on a steady diet of cheerleaders, huh, Coach?" Rochelle teased.
"Hell yeah!" he shouted back.
"He's on a steady diet of cheeseburgers now," Nick muttered to her, grinning. She shook her head at him.
"So back to the Tunnel of Love," he continued, walking beside her. "You've never been on one?"
"And I never will," she replied firmly.
"That's fine. I know a better ride, anyway."
She looked at him. "What is it?"
"You." He braced himself and laughed as she punched his arm as hard as he could. Fuck, that actually hurt.
"Jerk," she sniffed. It was too dark to see if she was genuinely angry or not.
"Wanna kiss and make up?" he offered.
"Nick, don't turn this into the Tunnel of Unwanted Advances," she replied, walking a little faster.
"Check the side rooms for supplies!" Ellis called back.
"Rooms? You mean these giant cardboard things plaguing my eyes?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, sure."
Nick checked the giant cardboard stands on the right while Rochelle took the ones on the left. He discovered a pipe bomb behind one of them and took it along.
"Hey," he called softly. Rochelle emerged from behind the stand. "Got a pipe bomb. You want it?"
"What, you tryin' to get back in my good books?" she asked.
"No. Maybe. Should I be? Look, do you want it or not?"
"I already have a jar of puke," she admitted.
"That explains it. I thought you just had shit taste in perfume."
"You just keep talking yourself into trouble, don't you?"
"You love my roguish charm. Admit it."
"I'll admit it's getting on my nerves."
Nick sighed and walked past her. "Women."
"Into the swan maintenance room of love!" Coach called back, alerting several Infected loitering around said room. The former football player blasted the babbling zombies as they sprinted towards him.
Nick started to follow Coach and Ellis into the maintenance room when he heard a splash and found himself partially soaked. He stiffly turned and looked at Rochelle, who had a look of wide-eyed innocence on her face.
"Guess the water can get pretty choppy," she shrugged, walking past him.
He stuck his leg out and she tripped and went face first into the water, getting completely soaked. He burst out laughing.
"Oops," he said unconvincingly, as she glared at him and got up.
"Quit horsing around and get in here, you two!" Coach yelled. "I thought I said no hanky panky!"
Ellis looked in Nick and Rochelle's direction with sudden interest, wondering if there was indeed some hanky panky going on. To his disappointment, he saw they were just having a splash fight. It looked pretty fun, though.
Rochelle had tried and failed to wrestle Nick under the water, so she wriggled out of his grasp and hurried over to Ellis. No point in continuing the fight if she wasn't able to win. Nick calmly swaggered after her, looking smug.
"Yer gonna catch a cold bein' all wet like that, darlin'," Ellis said, a little concerned.
"I'm sure she's used to being wet, Ellis," Nick piped up. "Especially around me."
Ellis looked confused. Rochelle looked pissed. Nick winked at her and grinned.
"Not funny," she hissed, once Ellis had gone ahead up the stairs and was out of earshot.
"Watch, I'll bet he'll ask Coach to explain what I meant," Nick whispered.
"I'm sure he knows, Nick," she replied. "He's not that innocent."
"And just how do you know th-"
In the room upstairs, they heard: "Yeah, Nick said that. I don't get it. Rochelle's a reporter, not a swimmer. Why would she be used to bein' wet? And why around Nick?"
"Boy," Coach replied, "I don't have time to explain it to you, but the next time I see Nick I am going to beat his ass."
"Wow, I didn't know Coach was your dad," Nick muttered.
She snorted and went the rest of the way up the stairs, walking along the balcony to the room Coach and Ellis were in. Nick followed, then stopped at the top of the stairs. She had paused in the doorway.
Rochelle was halfway in the dark of the maintenance room and halfway in the light of the supply room. She was looking back at him (oh Christ how could she, how dare she be that pretty) for some reason. Her hair seemed to be a part of the darkness behind her. Her eyes were somber and wide, and Nick just stared back at her, not daring to breathe. Then she was gone, and he heard her saying something to Coach. He let out his breath in a big whoosh.
Come on, man, pull it together, he told himself. You're thirty fuckin' five years old. You aren't susceptible to this stupid heart fluttery business. It's this goddamn Tunnel and its constant propaganda. That's all. That and you're desperate; she's the only woman you've really been around for the last two weeks. Before the apocalypse you probably couldn't even pick her out of a crowd. So just get a grip and shut it down RIGHT NOW.
Nick took another deep breath and ran a hand through his air. He felt more relaxed now, less like he was suffocating. That was good. He just needed to up the asshole factor and he'd be fine.
He continued on to the room the rest of the team was in. They were standing around a large hole in the floor, kicking down the Infected who tried to climb up.
"Took you long enough to join us, Nicolas!" Coach scolded, turning around when he heard Nick approaching. "What were you doin', pissin' off the ledge?"
"Of course," Nick replied, sauntering past him and looking down the hole.
Wow. There were a lot of Infected down there. Nick heard a Spitter, Jockey, and Charger as well. Hoo-ray.
"Who's goin' first?" he asked.
"Why don't you?" Rochelle replied.
He barely glanced at her before looking at Coach. "I've got a pipe bomb I can use to clear it out a bit."
"Good, throw it," Coach instructed.
"Pipe bomb inbound!" Nick warned, dropping it down the hole. The Infected swarmed around it and started clawing at the blinking chirping thing, trying to kill it. Nick and the others backed up as it exploded, shaking the ground a little.
"Looks a little bit better," Ellis commented, peering down.
"You go first, we'll be right behind you," Nick prompted.
"Since you were the last one in here, why don't you go first?" Coach suggested.
"Fine," Nick shrugged. He jumped straight down without looking at Rochelle.
Before his feet had even touched the ground, a Tank roared and charged at him. Shit, so it hadn't been a Charger! The muscled pink monstrosity sent him flying with one swing. Nick crashed against one of the walls and lay on the ground briefly, dazed.
"Guys!" he coughed, getting to his feet. "There's a Ta-"
It pummeled him again and he flew back even further, slamming against the grate blocking the rest of the tunnel. Nick tried to get up but the Tank pounded him once more and he felt himself fall back, unable to muster the strength to get up on his own.
"HELP!" he shouted, trapped. No way was he going to die here, not in this goddamned redneck Tunnel of Shit-
The Tank turned and chased after Coach and Ellis, who ran and fired at it, luring it away from Nick. Rochelle jumped down while it was distracted and hurried over to Nick. She knelt and tried to help him up.
"You're good, you're good," she encouraged, but the look on her face didn't match her words.
"Ro, get away from me and shoot the damn Tank before it kills one of them!" Nick snapped, rolling onto his side and wincing. Shit, that thing beat the hell out of him.
Ro hesitated and then ran after Coach and Ellis, taking out her gun. Nick fell back and watched her go, hoping a Hunter didn't take the opportunity to pounce him while he was down. That would suck. Well, it'd only been a minute or two. Not like those freaks magically spawned or anythi-
Wait. Before he jumped down, hadn't he heard a Jockey and a-
"Nick!" he heard Rochelle call from somewhere down the tunnel. "We got it!"
The Spitter stepped out from behind the pillar where she had been hiding and spat her burning goo shit right at Nick.
"Oh COME on!" he groaned, feeling it sear painfully through his clothes. This was worse than being pounced. This was slow and painful. At least Hunters had the decency to kill you quickly.
"Nick!" he heard Rochelle shriek.
A gunshot.
That fugly Spitter bitch fell over dead and spread a smaller acidic puddle around her corpse. Rochelle ignored it and charged right through, heading straight for Nick.
Shit, he thought as he lost sight of Rochelle, was the Tunnel of Love ALWAYS this dark?
Nick's eyes flew open as a strong jolt of electricity coursed through his body. He convulsed once and then gasped in air, immediately coughing and rolling over. He pushed himself to his feet.
"All right, that was some serious shit!" he said weakly. "What happened?"
Rochelle dropped the now useless chest paddles and hugged him quickly before stepping back.
"You were dead," she said quietly. Her voice sounded hoarse.
"What? Bullshit!"
"She's serious, man!" Ellis insisted. "You were dead fer like…five minutes. Took us a while t' find some-a them chest paddles."
"I died in the Tunnel of Love," Nick repeated, mortified. "That has got to be the most em-barassing thing I've ever heard. Or done."
"Congratulations," Coach chuckled. "You're alive now, though, so time to get a move on. We need to run on the coaster if we want to get to the safe room."
"You must be happy about this," Nick scoffed, looking at Ellis.
"Oh man, it's like Christmas came early!" Ellis said excitedly. "Hey, hold on, take my adrenaline shot. It'll help you move faster. Gimme your pills and we'll swap."
Nick hooked the shot to the strap on his leg and followed Coach and Ellis out. A hand on his arm stopped him.
"Nick, let me heal you," Ro said.
"Nah, I feel good," he replied, shrugging her off. "All I need is this shot and I'll do just fine on that coaster."
"You sure you're ok?" she pressed.
"Yeah, I'm great." He started to head for the fallen chainlink fence, then stopped. "Ro…was I really dead?"
"Yeah. How'd it feel?"
"I don't remember."
They chuckled nervously and then walked outside.
"Bet you just cried you eyes out for me," he joked. "Ran all over the place wailing like a Witch and raising hell until you found those chest paddles."
Nick looked over, grinning, and saw that her eyes actually did look pretty puffy.
"Shit, is that your makeup, or did you actually-"
"Yeah, ha ha, Nick, make fun of me for caring about someone!" she snapped angrily, storming past him. "You only died right in front of me, what was I thinking doing something stupid like crying? Silly me, silly Rochelle. I should have just made some wisecrack like, 'Oh, at least he was dressed for a funeral' and moved on. That's what you'd do, right?"
"Now hang on, sweetheart!" he protested, getting angry as well, but she didn't stop. He hadn't meant to upset her. He was just trying to lighten the mood.
Nick hurried over the fence and under the coaster. Up ahead, Rochelle hit the release for the coaster, and it rattled past her. Nick joined up with the group and stood in front of her. She had her arms folded and was tapping her foot impatiently.
"Listen, Ro, I didn't-"
He realized Coach and Ellis were staring at him, and decided to talk to her once they had reached the safe room.
The gate slid open, and the four started running on the track. Nick took out the shot Ellis had given him and stabbed it into his leg. He'd never used one before, so he didn't know how long it would take to-
HOOOOOLYSHIT THIS WAS AAAAAWWWWEESOME!
He flew by the other members effortlessly, feeling like he was the fucking Flash or something. He smacked Infected out of the way as they came towards him as if they were merely flies. Goddamn this shit was great! Everything was so vivid, it was like he had binoculars for eyes!
"Nick, you're going to get your dumb ass killed again!" he heard Rochelle scream. He glanced back and saw her taking a shot as well.
"Come on, sweetheart, catch up!" he called, laughing exuberantly. Why couldn't he be on this all the time?
Down a steep drop and then back up. Punch that fucking Jockey pussy in the face.
He looked back. Rochelle had caught up to him, still looking a little angry, but he could see that she was experiencing the same rush as him.
"This is somethin' all right," she breathed.
"Right? It's awesome!" he yelled.
Nick grabbed her hand and they sped up another slope of the coaster (he fucking hated coasters but right now it didn't even register he was SO FUCKING FAST) and through a short tunnel. They ran down the last incline and then jumped onto the platform with the shutoff lever. Rochelle axed a way clear and Nick slammed that thing off, hell yeah!
They started up the ramp that led to the safe house, almost forgetting about poor Coach and Ellis, who were much farther behind. At that point, though, the adrenaline wore off. Nick staggered and slumped against a rail, panting. He wiped at his sweat-covered forehead (sweat? Where had that come from? When had he exercised?) and looked over at Rochelle, who had fallen onto her ass. She was also breathing hard and wiping her forehead. They grinned at each other, not able to speak until their breath caught up with them.
By that time, Coach and Ellis had caught up.
"You two craaazy fuckers," Ellis crowed, shaking his head and grinning. "Runnin' like you were some kinda superheroes."
"You coulda gotten yo asses dead!" Coach scolded.
Nick just laughed, still coming down from the exhilaration.
"That has got to be the best thing I've ever done," he declared.
Rochelle nodded energetically. Ellis laughed at them.
"Man, once you get used to it you're gonna feel differently," he said. "It loses some of its pizzazz."
"I don't care," Nick said. "They should replace air with that stuff."
Rochelle laughed loudly, almost falling over.
"Why don't you two meet us at the safe house when you're…calmer," Coach suggested.
Nick gave him a thumbs up, still leaning on the rail. Coach and Ellis continued on to the safe house, Coach muttering and bitching about Nick and Rochelle the whole way there. Nick looked back at Ro, still feeling giddy.
"That was pretty freakin' cool," she said, smiling.
"Totally," he agreed, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.
They looked at each other, still flushed. Rochelle looked down at his hand, which was still holding her.
"You gonna let go?" she asked, smirking.
"Do you want me to?" he replied, smirking right back.
"Yes," she said quickly, jerking her hand free.
Nick felt disappointed, but then she stepped forward like she was going to kiss him. He leaned down, but then she quickly stepped back.
"Oh what the fu-" he complained.
She hesitated, took a step forward again, and then, before she could back away again, Nick grabbed her face and pressed his lips against hers. She didn't struggle, so after several moments he let go and looked at her.
Rochelle looked guilty. He frowned.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She didn't answer right away, so he went to kiss her again. She quickly stepped back.
"Ro?"
"It's the drugs," she said quickly.
He stared at her, confused. "What?"
"That stuff we just took," she continued, not looking at him. She played with her fingers nervously. "It's making us act weird."
"Are you kidding?" he asked incredulously.
"Sorry, Nick, I didn't mean to…you know," she apologized. "It must have been the adrenaline. That stuff is rough."
"Oh, I see. You wouldn't kiss me on purpose."
She swallowed and bit her lip.
"Sorry," she said again.
"Stop apologizing, goddamnit, it's fine!" he shouted. "Didn't know it would be so fucking painful for you to kiss me! Jesus Christ! Acting like you just kissed a Boomer or something."
She winced and looked up at him. "I didn't mean it like-"
"Whatever."
He turned and stormed into the safe house, ignoring Coach and Ellis.
"I'll take second watch," he volunteered, throwing himself into a corner and turning his back to them. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
Several minutes later, he heard Rochelle enter.
"Hey, Ro!" Ellis greeted her. "Wanna take third watch?"
"Actually, can I take the first watch? I don't feel too sleepy," she admitted.
"Sure, that's fine," Ellis agreed. The kid lay down near Coach, who was already snoring. "Nick'll wake me when his shift's over. He has second watch, so you'll hafta wake him up."
"Uh…great," she replied, echoing Nick's thoughts.
When more time had passed and Coach and Ellis were both soundly asleep, Ro called out.
"Nick?"
Nick remained silent, determined to ignore her. He feigned sleep and tried not to move.
"Nick?" she whispered.
Silence.
She knew he was awake, since he snored a little when he was actually asleep. She turned back to the door and stared out blankly, feeling awful.
"What, goddamnit? Stop making that face."
She looked at him in surprise. He was looking at her and resting his head on his hand, drumming his fingers impatiently. "Well?"
"I, uh…"
"If you say sorry again I am going to scream and punch Ellis in the ribs," he warned.
"I'm not going to apologize, relax!"
He looked at her skeptically.
"Ok, I was thinking it, but…"
"Ro, I get it," he interrupted. "You threw yourself at me-"
"I what!?"
"-and now you're embarrassed because I'm so handsome and out of your league. It's fine, don't sweat it, it won't be awkward at all," he assured her.
"That's not at all what I was thinking," she replied angrily.
"You don't have to say it. I can tell."
"You kissed me, remember?" she reminded him.
"I had to do something, you were doing this anxious little two-step and it was getting on my nerves," he replied.
"Oh whatever."
She turned back to the door and folded her arms. "Why do I even try."
"Hold on, I have one more thing to say, Rochelle," Nick said from behind her. She heard him getting up.
"I know I don't want to hear this," she sighed, rolling her eyes, but she turned back and faced him.
"I'm sorry I teased you about crying for me when I died," he said seriously, leaning forward slightly in front of her and resting his hands on his knees. "Hell, I would have cried for me, too."
"Nick, goddamnit-"
"I'm kidding!" he laughed, grabbing her hands as she tried to slap at him. "I would have busted up like a baby if I saw you die."
She stopped fighting and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, busted up laughing," she shot back.
"No, I'm serious!" he insisted. "I would have cried more than Ellis did when we left that stupid car behind."
"That was a lot of crying."
"I know."
"I don't think you have enough moisture left inside you to cry. You're all dried out, you boozy old man."
"Oh ha ha, back to the alcoholic jokes, real classy."
"I thought you would have been more upset about the old man part," she said in surprise.
"Please. Ro." He pointed at his face. "This is not the face of an old man. This is the stuff dreams are made of."
"More like nightmares." She was smiling.
"Oh kay, as fun as it is talking to you, I think it's nap time," he announced, heading back to where he had been lying before. "Don't hurt yourself trying to be funny."
"Same to you," she said, still smiling as she looked back out through the bars of the door.
Thinks she's soooo funny, Nick thought to himself as he curled up and faced the wall. Nick the old man, Nick the nightmare face. What the fuck ever. I bet grabbing her tits would shut her up. Get me killed, too, but she would shut up. And the look on her face would be PRICELESS.
The coaster creaked to a halt outside the safe room. The ride powered down, spreading a silence over the park which was only interrupted by the occasional scuffle between two Infected.