Hello everybody, welcome to the next chapter. I expect there to be more zombies, a few explosions, and at least a billion decapitations, muahahahah! Ok, seriously thanks to everybody that has read so far. When I started this chapter I had around sixty hits, more than I was expecting.

To The Golden Echo: thanks chick you are my first ever reviewer/favorite story-asizer…person... thanks you! YOU ROCK!

In this chapter I will start to introduce another survivor into the mix, but I don't know what will happen yet…. Lastly, as I promised this chapter will be much longer than its predecessors.

Now onto the next chapter of Left 4 Dead: Homegrown!

Narration

Important stuff

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

SOUNDS

BOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

Left 4 Dead: Homegrown

Chapter two, Zombies… bring 'em on…

"Son… we just made it across the street. Don't throw a party till we're out of the city." Bill. L4D

Stacy Henderson finally woke after seven hours of sleep. After several days of hearing the same sounds of banging on the door, it started to fade into the background. The constant beating no longer scared him or John, finding out that the enemy's main weapon is useless against you can do that. Now the sounds of the infected's persistent attempts to kill them almost seemed like a challenge.

The fact that both of them were immune to the zombie creating disease hope seemed more possible, but the barricade would not last forever. They now had at least eight or nine more zombies trying to get to them than before, and the door was beginning to crack. Within a day the infected would tear through and swarm the two survivors. The baseball bats they were currently using were effective at killing a single zombie at a time, but they probably wouldn't last long against a whole crowd.

John was in the corner, practicing his swing. Henderson had instructed him on how to properly swing the bat, in hopes to kill the creatures more efficiently. The boy was tall and could run, but he didn't have much upper body strength. With this in mind, Henderson was taking point, and John was following behind him.

"What is with your form, it's all over the place!" Henderson's built in coaching instincts kicked in; John was now swinging upward in an impossible angle.

John kept on swinging as he talked," I want to catch the fucker… under the jaw… break its teeth and… send the jaw into… the brain. Maybe I'll kill it quicker." John stopped swinging and walked over to the bag full of food.

He reached in and searched around, rummaging through the assorted snacks and bottled water. He pulled out a slightly worn, white paperback book. On its cover was a picture of a machete and a rifle crossing one the other in an x formation. Above that was the title in fake military-ish writing: The Zombie Survival Guide, By Max Brooks. John threw the book over to Henderson; he flipped through a few pages and laughed.

"You believe all this made up junk, boy? Shoot, none of this is useful." Henderson chuckled lightly as he read through the book.

John felt it necessary to defend the guide. "Hey, it lasted me this long, didn't it?" He puffed out his chest in hopes to seem more intimidating.

"It lasted you three minutes out there, and never in here. Unless you're gonna chunk it at some zombies, leave it." Henderson put the book down and crossed the room to John. He smiled and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's time we left, those guys are starting to annoy me." He jerked his head in the direction of the door for emphasis.

John gave a heavy sigh, and gave Henderson a nod of surrender. He put the book down and faced their escape, the vents that… hopefully… led to safety. The trip ahead would be long and dangerous, a lot of time they probably wouldn't know where they were going. This was a good time to get comfortable with the idea; any sense of safety would soon become scarce. Zombies would be everywhere and constantly be a danger to anything trying to even cross the street. Things weren't going to be easy for two people to fight a world of zombies with baseball bats.

John turned to face Henderson with a look of determination set on his face. "Alright, I guess it's time to go. Is all the food packed?" He checked the bag again; enough food to last the both of them a week. "Well… we'll have to find some supplies along the way to Hubbard. Hopefully the supermarket or my house wasn't cleaned out."

"Yeah, hopefully, if not… well we will find it somewhere else. But weapons are the first priority, remember?" Henderson raised his own bat, showing the small dent from his most recent kill. The bats would not last very long either, so new weapons, or better yet guns, were important.

"Yeah, yeah… I hear you." John responded, shouldering the backpack full of food and water. "You ready to leave?"

"Ugh, ready as I'll ever be." Henderson pulled his large teaching desk underneath the air vent in the ceiling.

He climbed on top of the desk and reached to remove the vent cover. It popped off easily and was thrown mercilessly to the other side of the class room. Henderson climbed in first, bat in hand and started to crawl as to make room. John took one last look around the room that had provided safety for the last few days. It felt strange to leave it to the wrath of the infected, but that was its fate. John climbed on the desk and passed his own bat up to Henderson and grabbed the ledge. With a mighty heave he pulled himself in. The ventilation was surprisingly roomy, enough to at least turn around in. Henderson took point, running the layout of the building through his head. Their room was near the edge of the building, but that meant the infected at the infected at their door could easily spot them. So they traveled deeper into the building hoping to come out near the other side.

The crawl through the vents took longer than they expected. Occasionally the two would cross a vent into another class rooms, and the scenes before them where disheartening. Blood was a constant factor in the rooms, occasionally accompanied with a limb or two. Sometimes a few stray zombies could be seen, aimlessly shambling about without a thought or purpose. They also had to be quiet as not to alert the hoard, which could probably find some way to reach them. As long as John and Mr. Henderson stayed quiet the creatures below them were never the wiser. The zombies were attracted to loud sounds, smell only worked up close, and their sight worked like any human's. Sneaking could apparently be accomplished at distances so long as no noise was made, but if breaking glass could attract a crowd at two hundred yards John shuddered to think what a car alarm would do.

After thirty minutes of crawling through the ceiling they finally found their exit. Sunlight could be seen through an open vent at the end of the shaft the two currently were in. The vent would lead straight to the outside world through the hole in the wall.

But the sounds of soulless groaning could be heard too, portraying the immediate danger awaiting them.

Henderson stopped to think, if the infected were nearby it would be hard for the duo to defend each other while climbing down from their exit if they were spotted. If they could find a nearby classroom, they could sneak out quietly, fighting only what they needed to.

Henderson looked back to his fellow survivor, "John, here's the plan; we're gonna lower down into an empty classroom and sneak out. The library is nearby, we'll make a break there and work our way to the road, it'll lead us outta town."

John thought for a moment, "What if the zombies are all over the place, what are we gonna do then? The highway in front of the college runs all the way through Corsicana, and it was the quickest way in and out of the city. If people were escaping, they would most likely go there, and these undead fuckers would follow their food source anywhere."

Henderson could see his point and thought it over again, "We can check from the Administrative Building, it runs right along the street. If it's clear we follow it out of town, if not… hmm. We'll take to the baseball fields; they're close to the intersection. We'll follow it north and take the back roads to Hubbard."

John nodded in agreement, "Sounds good, not like there's anything better to do."

With that decided, John and Henderson used the closest vent available to drop into an empty classroom. They were lucky enough to find that the room had a window, their destination across a mostly abandoned parking lot, the Sanchez Library. It was a large brick building, two stories and rectangular in shape. The fire escape was the closest entrance, and if Henderson remembered, the library did not have any alarms, so it was also the safest way in.

Luckily enough, it was still midday. The sunlight would help them see and avoid any potential living carcasses.

"Ok, we'll cross the parking lot making as little sound as we can, the fire escape will be or way in. We can work our way down stairs and leave through the front door. From there we'll cross the court yard, under the clock tower, and into the student center." Henderson paused to see if John was following. He gave the teacher a nod for him to continue. "That trip will put us right next to the book store, which is connected to the Administrative Building, our goal."

John craned his neck to see out the small window, from there he could spot at least five random infected in the parking lot. "They," he emphasized 'they' with a jerk of the head at the zombies, "won't be too much of a problem, but we may want to see what we can pick up along the way for better weapons."

Henderson nodded in agreement and the survivors fell silent, observing the task before them.

Sadie Graham jogged along a, thankfully, deserted street. The twenty one year old woman was feeling quite good with how things had turned around for her.

Sadie's long walk through Corsicana had been quite eventful. Between making her way through a city full of fucking zombies… ALONE, and finding safe places to sleep, things had been tiring. Armed with a pair of lovely pistols she found and all the ammunition she could need from a local gun store, she was as safe as she needed to be. The black and white Norinco M-1911A1 pistols, that she affectionately named Ebony and Ivory could put a zombie down in one shot. The satisfaction of being able to waste anything that so much as looked at her funny was an intoxicating one. But… her food had been running low, and she still had a long way to go.

After a lucky break at a convenience store fate had rewarded her with a shotgun, a Remington 870, twelve gage, and with plenty of ammo hidden behind the main counter (no doubt so because of the worlds current state of panic). The food she gathered would last her a few weeks too, things were looking good again

All was well in Sadie's zombie apocalypse.

Her plan was to head west through the city, through the community college and stopping at the Wal-Mart on the east side of town. After that… she didn't know what to do. Maybe the supermarket giant would be well stocked and she could stay there until the zombies starved to death… or something.

No matter, Sadie was set, and nothing could ruin her good mood.

The trip to the Library was a success. The few zombies that spotted them were quickly disposed of. The bats were more effective than originally thought, the virus apparently weakened the infected's bone marrow. This resulted in easily destroyed skulls and fractured spines.

John and Mr. Henderson were currently positioned on top of the fire escape. Not knowing what could be on the other side, the two were prepared for the worst. John was by the door, ready to open it. Henderson had his bat in hands, tensed to kill anything that could be on the other side of the door. John tensed as he opened the door and ducked to the side so to get out of Henderson's way. After a few moments of silence the duo released a breath they didn't realize they were holding. They stepped into the building quietly, not knowing what might be hiding in wait.

The library was relatively empty; no sounds of infected creatures could be heard, and the two survivors lowered their guard. The inside of the building was in slight disarray, random shelves of books had fallen, and the occasional splatter of blood could be seen, but overall it showed no sign of past panic. The survivors walked lightly through the isles, hoping not to find any stragglers.

After reaching the grand staircase leading to the first floor, they found a different sight. The once grand polished tile floor was covered in blood and gore. Hair, limbs, and assorted body parts mixed in with the crimson liquid that painted the floor. The building had been a massacre, and it seemed no one even survived to run to the top floor. The main doors had obviously been barricaded, as many of the shelves on the bottom floor were scattered about. The doors were obliterated, as if a truck had drove straight through, but the offending object could not be found. The scene was unnerving, so the two decided to leave quickly.

The destroyed doors opened to a small flight of stone steps and straight into the court yard. The area was wide and open, at least fifty yards across, with nothing but a clock tower in the middle. On each side was a building; on their left was a large café, to the right was a large gymnasium. Directly across from the library were the Student Center, and a few yards behind that was the Administration Building.

The only problem: the dozen, or more, zombies between the survivors and their goal.

John looked out into the grassy lawn and stared, "One, two…

"We could go around them."

"…four… five, six…"

"The cafeteria looks to be infested though."

"…seven… eight…"

"Maybe the gym won't be so bad?'

"…ten, eleven…twelve…"

"I think that one on the left is looking at us."

…thirteen…fourteen…"

"John, are you listening"

"…fifteen. Yeah, I think we can take them." John half yelled out with confidence.

Henderson let out an exasperated sigh, "Shh! There was no way that the two of us can take on fifteen zombies with a couple of bats boy. We'll be slaughtered!" He hissed out the last sentence realizing he was almost yelling too.

John turned his head and whispered back, "Nah, your thinking about it wrong. If we get their attention, we can funnel the in here and take 'em out one by one!" He looked over to his partner, smiling at the brilliance of his plan.

Henderson, on the other hand, was against the idea. Anything that led to confronting any of those monsters on purpose was crazy in his book. But what chance did they have otherwise? He sighed in defeat, "Alright, I'll take the left side, you take the right, together we'll…

BANG!

Gunshot rang through the courtyard as a few of the infected turned their attention towards the cafeteria.

Bang! Bang-ba-bang!

A lone figure stood by the café and was gunning down the zombies before them one by one. Before long only three were left, still blissfully unaware of the danger approaching them. It was young woman, maybe in her early twenties. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black Metallica t-shirt and a pair of heavy black boots. There was a large white bag on her back, obviously full of her supplies. She was short, looking to be about five and a half feet with dark red hair. She was using a pair of black and white handguns and on her back was a mean looking black shotgun.

As she crossed the yard and killed the remaining three zombies, our heroes walked carefully out of the library, hoping not to surprise her.

"H-hello? Ma'am, can you hear me?"

Sadie nearly jumped in surprise when she heard the voice of another human calling to her. It was deep and slightly rough, defiantly an old guy.

"Huh," she called back, "who's there, where are you?"

"Umm… over here, by the library." This time it was a different voice, slightly higher and a little smoother, teenage boy, ugh.

She turned around to the library building she had walked by, and sure enough two figures were standing in the trashed doorway. Both looked slightly tired and they were covered in dirt. The taller one was the younger, tall, lanky and bespectacled… nerd. The slightly shorter one was the first voice, a teacher still half dressed for work, even worse. But these were survivors and, if they lasted this long, they might be immune too.

Oh well, the more the merrier.

"Oh, there you are. Wait there, I'm coming over." Sadie jogged the short distance to the library and her fellow survivors. Up close the two looked like more than she was expecting. The building they were in was a blood bath, but neither seemed to be too bothered by it. The gore on their cloths also were sending a different message than what she was expecting, at least they could fight.

"Hello, I'm Stacy Henderson"

'Stacy? Wow. But that's for another time.'

"And I'm John"

'Eh, at least he looks serious.'

The two looked to her, silently asking her name.

"I'm Sadie, you both immune?" She raised her arm showing a few scratches that she had received from numerous zombies. The healing scars effectively portrayed her immune status.

The younger one, John, lifted his arm to show a faint scar shaped like a crescent moon on his wrist; no doubt it was from a zombie's bite. Henderson let her see the multiple scratches along his own arm.

Sadie smiled to herself, "Looks like we're going together then, eh? Where are ya'll heading too?"

Henderson spoke up first, "We're heading east to a small town called Hubbard. Hopefully we'll find a ride on the way there. From then we were gonna try to find any evac sites still running."

Well, it sounded a lot better than her plan, "Aright, I'll go with you, you look like you could use some help anyway. I guess you can lead the way."

Sadie smiled at the confused looking survivors.

Things were indeed looking up for her.

What was with this girl? What happened to make her this crazy? Did she not know the dangers they were in?

Out of the blue this happy gun wielding chick had walked in, mowed down fifteen zombies, and talks to them like nothing close to the apocalypse was happening. But actually having guns might do that to a person in these conditions. So maybe she deserved her happiness, either John or Henderson would be glad to have a pistol right now. They were unbelievably happy to find another survivor, strange or not. She seemed confident, but that could be mistaken for crazy…

John followed along as the group of three made their way to the administration building, reminiscing to the conversation before. An agreement had come across to share the wealth. In other words Henderson had convinced Sadie to let them borrow her handguns, while she got to keep the shotgun.

Sadie missed her babies, as she called them, but you just don't say no to keeping the shotgun.

Sadie was walking beside Henderson, scanning the area before them. From outside the building was quiet. The group approached the building and John opened the wooden doors cautiously just like before, prepared for anything….

…except a few dozen infected inside the building staring right back at them.

John immediately shut the doors praying to god that they weren't seen, but the screams of rage coming from inside the building confirmed their fears. The three survivors retreated back, past to the clock tower and into the Library. Behind them the sounds of shattering glass and fists beating on doors rang out. Seeing no other option, our three heroes turned on the stone steps of the library and faced the building, guns raised.

Sadie, now finally worried, quickly spun around and placed her back pack on the ground. "There's ammo clips in the bag, grab a few for now, but try to leave some for later." She opened the bag revealing a few boxes of shells and a good amount of handgun clips underneath.

Curiosity got the better of John, "were did you find all this?"

"Gun store," she replied, "this and the guns were all that was left."

"Eyes forward!" Henderson signaled. The first few zombies were bursting through the front windows. John and Henderson opened fire. Henderson's shots were controlled and easily found their target.

John… not so much.

"You can't shoot shit" Sadie yelled above the gunfire.

"No fucking duh!" John shouted back angrily, tapping his glasses for emphasis. "Trade me, there getting closer!"

"Why the hell should I?"

"It's a FUCKING SHOTGUN! You don't have to be a good shot! You just point and click, it kills everything for you!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT-UP! THE'RE HALF-WAY HERE!" Henderson screamed at them while still shooting.

"Ugh… fine! Give me that!" John gladly traded the handgun back to her, kneeling down between the shooters for a better shot.

The zombies began to fall much quicker now, between the two older survivors the infected pretty much running into a wall of gunmetal. The two were like a well oiled machine; as one would fire, the other would reload, taking up the slack and holding off the hoard on both sides. When the other came back, their partner would quickly pick up any ground lost and continue as normal.

But it still wasn't enough.

There had been more than the trio had counted on, at least sixty. With twenty five zombies still charging, and gaining fast, John finally got his turn. As the zombies began to reach the steps he kneeled down, swung the shotgun around to the nearest disfigured face, and fired. In one shot John killed one infected and knocked back another. He quickly cocked the gun and fired at another on small group on his left and killed two more.

With John working perimeter and Henderson and Sadie effectively taking care of everything out of his range, the hoard was quickly reduced to one, looking at the survivors with unparalleled hunger. It studied them from thirty yards away, and in a split second it attacked.

The lone zombie let loose a familiar scream of rage as everything seemed to slow down. It dropped to its hands and feet, at the same time its attention shifted to Sadie. Henderson fired but the shot went wide as the zombie went airborne. It launched itself into the air and arced almost gracefully to her. It landed directly on her chest and, using its momentum, brought her down with it. Time returned to normal as the creature cawed mercilessly at her.

"Get it off! GET IT OFF! GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF!!!" Sadie screamed as she fought back, using her arms as shields. Henderson reached for his bat but John was quicker. Using the only thing he learned from middle school football, he charged the zombie with his shoulder down and tackled it off of her. It was lighter than he expected, as it was sent rolling along the bloodstained tile. He followed its body to where if finally stopped. As the infected stopped moving, it was met with a foot on its torso. John pinned the zombie and raised the shotgun's barrel to its face.

"Bye." He closed one eye and pulled the trigger.

Boom! CHK-CHK

The zombie's head was now a bloody smear on the gore covered steps of the library. John turned around and offered a hand to Sadie, who was still on the ground.

"That's why I want the shotgun." A shit eating grin was plastered on his face. "I always wanted to do that." He now knew why this crazy girl had been so confident before.

Guns are very fun in a world like this.

End of chapter two

Now that was fun to write, I've wanted to use that argument over the shotgun for a long time. It's an actual fight I had with a friend when he took the last good shotgun in Left 4 Dead one.

As I promised this chapter is longer that the others, about twice as long in fact. Now that the group has effective weapons to fight with it will be easier to type more.

In my haste of finishing the last chapter, I forgot something very important. The book: The Zombie Survival Guide is a real book by Max Brooks. I do not own it in any way.

As I said please read and review

BYE!