Hello! I'm back to do some more damage. After a break for the weekend, I'm coming back for another chapter of Homegrown. I'm proud to announce that I've broken the one hundred hits milestone, a big personal accomplishment. The reading is nice but I would appreciate a few reviews to see what people think of the story.
Also, after scoping out my locations of choice, I now know most of the direction that this story will follow. After this chapter I will begin placing my Author's notes at the end of the chapters.
And now with all introductions aside, I now bring you the next chapter of Left 4 Dead: Homegrown.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything…T.T
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"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Narration
Sound effects
INFECTED
Important/Exaggeration
WALL WRITING (new)
LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN
Chapter 3: some simple sanctuary sounds… shit I ran out of words starting with 's'!
"Hey, Francis, if I ever turn, can you shoot me?" "What if your beard turns, can I shoot that?"
Bill/Francis, L4D
"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, and 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.
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Sadie sat on the floor a moment dazed and confused, apparently oblivious to the hand he was offering her. John couldn't blame her though, it all happened really fast. On moment a zombie was trying to claw a hole straight through her to China. Four seconds later he was standing over her with blood covering most of his features and a stupid grin adorning the rest.
She finally noticed the gore covered floor she was sitting on and gladly accepted his hand. She was light, so at least John did not make a fool of himself by falling as she used him to straighten herself. The next thing she saw was the corpse of her late attacker. Everything above the shoulders was gone, reduced to the red smear now adorning the floor.
The fact that this single creature could have easily killed her was frightening. She spent most of the last week obliterating these creatures and this lone zombie… A feeling of fear seemed to finally hit the poor girl… fear and weakness.
Striding over to the dead…deader creature, she did what every sensible, angry, red-blooded American would do…
She kicked it.
"Ha! Whatcha gonna do now, HUH!? Thought you could kill me!? NU-UH! Not a chance! YOU…FUCKING…PIECE…OF…SHIT!" Her last statement was accented with her pausing to stomp on the creature's dead carcass. Sadie then made a disgusting snorting noise and promptly spit a wad of mucus on its body. Satisfied with the verbal lashing, she tuned around to the boys, who stood watching from a safe distance away from the enraged woman. "What the fuck are you looking at?" John and Henderson suddenly found the ceiling quite fascinating.
It came to his attention that Sadie never really did anything to the zombie while it was alive, but John decided to keep his mouth shut. He never understood women. Turning back to see if she was ok, the teen realized Sadie's state of dress; the Metallica shirt had been torn to ribbons, leaving little to the imagination. In an attempt to drown out the lone female survivor, John averted his attention to the other survivor.
A few feet away from the strange duo, Henderson surveyed the mutilated field of zombies before them. The group's last feat had seemed impossible; after an attack of at least sixty zombies nothing was left but the cold bodies of the recently undead. It seemed the zombies fell quite easily, but the leaping kind seemed different. With all the zombies he and John, maybe even Sadie, had killed, not one flown like the last creature had.
It was special.
Henderson looked down to the pistol in his hand. The black metal shined in the setting sun, giving it an ominous look. He looked between it and the bat in his hand; he preferred the comfort and power of the club beside him instead of the gun.
The ex-teacher walked back to the other survivors as John realized Sadie was still talking. The poor boy was being verbally brought down by the small girl standing in front of him. She was obviously embarrassed at being bested by the creature, and her current anger was being used to disguise her true emotions.
"If you two would kindly wrap this up, we need to move on. Who knows what our little fight attracted, maybe even more infected." Henderson looked to his fellow survivors, and received a slight nod from each. He looked back to the pistol still in his hand, obviously considering something. With a heavy sigh, he held the pistol out, offering it to Sadie, "I hate to say it, but you're a better shot than me. You can have this back and I'll join John at the front."
Sadie went from angry to ecstatic instantly. She snatched the pistol from his hands, cradling it in her hands. "Did the old man not appreciate you? I'm so sorry Ebony. I'll treat you better than him." She spoke to the gun as if it were her own child. With a final… disturbing kiss to the barrel she checked the safety and tucked it in the back of her jeans.
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After dividing up the ammo and necessities, the trio began their trek across the courtyard and back to the student center. By some stroke of luck, the fight held not minutes ago did not attract any more zombies. A quiet had fallen over the group, the legions of infected could be around any corner and they needed to be prepared.
Sadie always had her white gun, Ivory as she called it, in hand. In case of emergency her second pistol was within reach.
John kept the shotgun in hand, foregoing the holster Sadie had earlier offered. Most of the gun's ammo was kept in a part of his bag he could easily reach, but he kept a few shells in his pocket for quick access. The shotgun was resting on his left shoulder, being held in place by his corresponding hand (left also if you didn't understand). When asked why he simply stated, "It looks cool."
Henderson walked in front of the group, wielding his favorite bat. The other that John had carried was tucked in the spare shotgun holster the younger boy didn't need. Henderson carried both in case his main one was damaged.
All together, John thought the small group actually looked intimidating… not that it mattered to the infected. After the short walk, the survivors were rewarded with an empty building. The horde residing in the student center seemed to have all taken part in their last assault.
"All the easier for us," commented Sadie, her cocky attitude returning.
"Shh," Henderson turned around to scold the girl, "empty or not we don't want to take the risk, do we?"
Sadie's retort was to stick her tongue out, mocking the older man. She whispered to herself, "Meh, kill the mood won't cha?"
John had to suppress his laughter. The two would probably be annoying each other for the rest of their trip. The road ahead was looking a little more enjoyable now.
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The student center was a mostly large, spacious room, with a few smaller rooms attached. The room itself was adorned in help desks and posters advertising Navarro College. There was a second floor and a basement, but neither one was important right now. Across from the door the survivors entered, was the way out, two small glass double doors. The doors led out into a garden, surrounded on all four sided by the student center and the administrative building. The area had been significantly damaged, one of the three trees had somehow been uprooted, blocking the right side of the gardens. The source of the destruction was mysteriously absent, as like the destroyed library doors.
The survivors jogged across the room quickly. The idea that their journey was nearly over was becoming an intoxicating one. A scarce few zombies resided in the garden, but not nearly enough to pose a threat. As John held one door open, Sadie quickly exterminated the infected before there presence was discovered. Satisfied, the survivors entered into the garden, assessing the best way into the building before them. The Administrative Building was not built wide, but long. It started nearly immediately to their left and continued on for more than a hundred yards in the other direction. There were originally three entrances from the garden into the building, one on the right and two to the left. The door to the right was obviously out of the question, so the group resigned to the two on the left.
The closer entrance was a pair of sliding doors leading into the college book store. This way would lead them through more of the administrative building and possibly more infected. The other door was only a few yards away. It led strait into the main hall running through most of the entire building. The hall ended into a large auditorium used for hosting plays and important meetings. Past the auditorium, there was an exit facing the east, and out to the baseball fields. Obviously the second door was the better choice, too bad it was demolished. The door itself was caved in, yet another demolished object for no apparent reason.
After trying to un-wedge the door from its frame, the trio decided to try door number one.
Sadie sat staring at the door with a look of strained concentration. No zombies appeared to be on the other side, but another thought was plaguing her thoughts, "How exactly are we gonna get it open?" The power supplied to the door, along with most of the college, was out.
"Simple," Henderson stated in a wise tone, slightly mocking the younger girl. "John and I will pry it open, while you put this," he handed her the spare bat, "in between the doors to prop it open."
Sadie looked to the older man, clearly thinking 'this is never going to work'. But with a heavy sigh she complied with her part in the plan.
John and Henderson positioned themselves on either side of the doors as Sadie stood ready to play her part. With a mighty heave, the two men gripped the edges and pulled the doors apart. The doors themselves pulled back, trying to shut. Once the doors gave way enough, Sadie rushed in and wedged the doors apart with the bat.
"John, you go first." Henderson looked to the youngest survivor and jerked his head to the inside room.
"Ok, we'll help hold it open while you get through." John released his side of the doors and quickly grabbed the other side.
"Ready Sadie?" John called to the older girl, who soon pulled back on Henderson's door.
"Ready, but hurry up. I can't hold this long." Sadie strained to hold the door back.
"On three, I'll let go, ok?"
CRACK
The bat between the doors began to strain under the force placed on it. John gripped his door harder as his fingers turned purple.
"One…Two…THREE!"
Henderson let go of his door and leaped into the book store. John and Sadie let go as the bat finally snapped.
CRRACK
SLAM!
The doors snapped back together from all the force that had built, so much so that the doors could have easily snapped Henderson in half.
The older man lifted himself off the ground, giving a relieved sigh that he was still in one piece.
"Well… that was fun." John heaved as he caught his breath.
Sadie rolled her eyes at him, gasping all the time. "Yeah…let's almost kill… ourselves more…often." She replied sarcastically.
Henderson looked sadly at the last remaining slivers of wood from his bat. With a small pitiful sigh he said, "That was my favorite one too."
"Suck it up man, it is… was just a bat."
Sadie looked to the man, slightly annoyed as he grabbed a few pieces and placed them in his pocket. He turned to the twisting hallway that connected the book store to the Administrative Building, leaving the confused survivors staring at his retreating figure.
John sighed at Sadie's lack of sympathy to the older survivor.
"What?" Sadie asked, not realizing her mistake. "What did I do?"
"Never mind, let's just catch up before he finds more zombies."
The remaining survivors jogged into the hallway, looking to catch up with their lone teammate.
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At the end of the hallway, the trio met with a slight…problem.
It was not zombies. The few infected that had crossed the group were quickly disposed of. The zombies of past students had been trapped in the building, all the obvious exits had been destroyed.
The real trouble came in the form of a few overturned bookshelves. They had been made into a barricade in hopes of holding off the horde.
Henderson approached the makeshift wall, calling out to any survivors beyond it. "Hello? Anyone in there?" He lowered his view to a gap in the barricade. He looked on for a few moments…
"GRAAHHH!"
…And a mutilated arm reached back through the hole, trying to grab him.
Henderson leaped back, startled by the figure.
The inhuman growl obviously belonged to an infected.
John placed a hand on Henderson's shoulder, trying to calm him down.
"What did you see?"
Henderson closed his eyes and shook his head, no one had survived.
"Did it end on the other side?" John changed the subject slightly to stop his thoughts.
"There was another barricade, not far from the one here. It would take some time to bring this one down, let alone the other one."
Sadie decided to ad her thoughts, "And who knows how many had been zombified behind there." Her statement was accented with another arm trying to claw its way out of the barricade.
"We could go around. There's another hall above us. The second floor is made mostly of classrooms, a long hallway, and some more stairs on the other end." John pointed to the stairs beside them to prove his point.
Henderson cheered up a bit at this. "Good idea, we could check the roads from one of the class windows too."
With the unanimous agreement the survivors began their trek upward. The upper hallway was strangely clear, no zombies or signs of panic were to be seen. Not to complain, the survivors gladly took this moment of peace.
The trio entered the closest room on their right side, which would have a window facing the highway. Entering the unlocked room carefully, they were met yet again with no creatures of the horde.
Henderson quickly went to the window, followed soon after by the others. The sight they saw was not what they were prepared for.
The highway that turned into the main road throughout Corsicana was overrun. Zombies littered the street, hundreds of them. Every fifty or so feet a riot fence had been placed. Many of them had been overturned, while the few that had been set up carefully still stood. The infected shuffled about in their drunken stupor, few even climbed the fences still standing.
If the survivors wanted to leave the building to the road, they would certainly die.
Henderson couldn't take it. The library, the road, even the very floor underneath them, the horde was there. No matter where they were, there would be infected waiting for them. "What now?" he asked the others, "Where do we go." Henderson sat heavily onto a nearby desk, tired and beaten.
"Plan B" John said as he turned form the window. The youngest survivor sat beside the older man as he continued, "We continue down the building and exit to the baseball fields. We can put some distance between us and them and use the back roads to get out of town."
Sadie too turned from the window, "There's a… country road that heads east towards Dawson. It's close to the city park not to far from here… it's past the church, right?" She looked between the two for a confirmation.
"I… think so." John replied, "Dawson's just a few hours' walk from Hubbard. We'll find an evac and leave this nightmare. After that it's hello Alaska. I'm gonna need a damn big coat."
Henderson looked between the two, a new spark of life in his eyes. "You're right… it's not too far, maybe a mile from the fields. After that…"
Thump…
"SHH! Hear that." John cut the man off in mid sentence. He jumped up and looked around, searching for the source of the noise.
Thump…
"There it is again!" He exclaimed, happy that he wasn't hearing things.
Sadie looked at the boy as if he lost his mind. "I don't hear shit. You're ju…"
"Shh…" John waved to the girl, trying to silence her.
Thump…
Sadie didn't take that too well. "Boy did you…"
"Quiet… I hear it too." This time it was Henderson to silence her.
Thump…Thump…Thump…
"Umm… I hear it too now." Sadie reached behind her, pulling out Ebony.
The group quietly retreated to the hallway as the noise became louder. They were surprised to find it still empty. There was no sign of whatever was making the noise.
Thump…Thump…
"Where the hell is that coming from?" Sadie swept the halls, searching franticly.
"It's below us!" John said looking back to the stairs that they had previously climbed. He rushed over only to find it deserted. "Not here yet."
"How come you can hear it and we can't?" Sadie was beginning to quickly lose her nerve.
"I don't know, probably because I can't see well."
THUMP…THUMP…
"It's getting louder… John what direction is it coming from?" Henderson decided to follow the boy's senses since nothing else seemed to work right now.
"Umm… I think the stairs at the end of the hall. I think it's a…"
"HUURRHH…"
...infected."
"Fuck." Guess who.
THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…
As the creature reached the top of the staircase, the survivors were shocked. Time once again seemed to slow, giving the three a chance to truly see the creature.
The infected was different than any they had seen. It was tall… easily seven to seven and a half feet. The torso was the second biggest part of the creature, giving it its height. The creature's shoulders were impossibly wide, much wider than its waist. Its legs seemed slightly smaller than they should; giving the monster almost a triangular shape. The infected's head was easily the smallest part of the creature.
But the infected's arms were by far its strangest feature. The left arm was small and disfigured. The puny appendage was only a foot long and looked unusable. The right arm was what made the creature terrifying. It was wide, even wider than its mutated torso. It was longer than the beast was tall, dragging along behind it.
As the abomination finished its climb on the other end of the hall, the survivors realized there was nowhere to run. The exits downstairs were blocked and the main doors led to the overrun highway. On their left was the room they just left, and to the right was the stairway, not much fighting room.
Sadie turned to Henderson, hoping for a plan. "What do we do?"
Hearing her, the beast faced the small group one hundred feet away. "Hrrrruuh?" It stupidly stared at them.
Henderson's grip on the bat tightened, "We kill it. If it gets too close, we'll split up. You go down the stairs, and we'll go to the room. Whoever it doesn't follow will come back and we'll attack from both sides. Understand?"
"Got it." John raised his shotgun and aimed down the barrel to the behemoth.
"This'll either be fun… or painful." Sadie brought her pistols to eye level and readied herself.
Henderson raised his hand. "Hold…"
"HHUUURRH!" The creature let loose a primitive war cry.
"Hold…"
It began to advance at a strange jogging pace, shaking the floor slightly.
"FIRE!"
Sadie shot first, simultaneously firing both pistols. It didn't seem to notice as it continued its advance. When the monster reached the invisible half way point John poured a round of buckshot into it. The shot hit dead on, knocking it back a few steps.
The creature noticed that.
"HHRRRRRGGG…" It growled as its attention shifted to John.
"HUUURRRRAAAAAHHH!!"
"Oh shit man, you pissed it off!" Sadie's attention rapidly shifted between John and the angered creature fifty feet away as she continued to fire.
"Good!" With a look of determination, he cambered another round. John looked to the blood pooling at the monster's feet. 'I can kill it...'
Henderson called out to the others, "Get ready to split." "Three…"
John dropped to one knee, staring down the barrel at his target.
"Three…"
John… what are you doing?" Sadie paused to reload and noticed the youngest survivor.
The monster raised one arm like a shield.
"Two…"
"HHUURRRAAAAHHH!!"
The monster charged towards the group with great speed.
"John! Get the fuck up!"
"ONE!"
Henderson and Sadie leapt to their respected tides, but John stayed. He fingered the trigger, waiting for the perfect shot.
'Come and get it' "You fucking PIECE OF SHIT!"
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Sadie screamed at him.
As the oversized infected neared, John pulled the trigger. Every piece of buckshot hit the creature's arm, but it never stopped.
"FUCK!" John expected it to stumble again, but the arm was shielding it too well. Too late to dodge, John quickly pumped and fired again, but still to no avail.
'Shit…' That was the only thought running through his mind as the monster reached him. He was picked up by the force of its charge and carried as it ran into the wall ten feet behind him and finally stopped.
John's head hit the wall and made him see stars. The creature backed up and he fell from the indention his body had made. It reached down with its larger arm and lifted him easily as he scrambled to find the shotgun he dropped.
"JOHN!" Sadie ran out of her room and immediately began firing again at the monster's back.
Henderson realized what had happened and followed Sadie over to the monster holding the youngest survivor. He pushed past her, causing her to stop firing, and brought the bat down on the creature's spine, as John had done not a few days ago.
The effect was instant; the monster released John and turned to him. It swung its arm in an attempt to hit the older man, but Henderson ducked and rolled back to dodge it. "Aim for the face!" he called to Sadie, who eagerly complied and opened fire.
John was still dazed and confused, but at least he wasn't being run into anything anymore. By his side was the shotgun, unaffected by the earlier attack. He reached over and pulled the gun to him by the stock. After getting a good grip he brought it up and aimed at the monster's head, only for it to explode in a shower of blood, bone, and brain matter. The behemoth's body swayed and fell, slumping into a disgusting pile of flesh.
"Now we're even kid." Sadie stepped over the creature towards him and offered a hand to help him up. She had a shit eating grim plastered on her face.
"Ha ha ha, very funny." John reached up to take her hand but a sharp pain suddenly erupted from his right side, causing him to drop his arm quickly. "Ouch…"
"That's what you get for playing hero when you didn't even need to." Henderson shook his head and reached down to help Sadie get him up.
"My bad." John grunted as they lifted him back onto his feet.
John stood still as Henderson looked him over, using hiss skills from coaching to asses the damage. "You bruised a rib. The pain will pass in after a few days. Just don't rely on your right side too much and be prepared to feel pain in the mornings."
"As long as it ain't broken." John steadied himself as the group proceeded down the hall. The stairs were barren, like the rest of the hall, and so was the room beneath it.
"What the hell is that?" Sadie pointed to the object she was questioning, a room.
The room itself didn't seem out of the ordinary, but the door is what caught her attention. It was painted red and made of metal. Beside the door on the wall was a crudely painted house with a cross in it. The house was as red as the door beside it and an arrow was painted beneath it, pointing toward the room.
"That… would be a safe room." John looked to the door as if it were a long lost friend. "Remember the hacker that broadcasted all those tips on survival? This was one of those ideas of his. He showed people how to make safe rooms into nothing short of a bunker from the undead."
Henderson stared at the safe room, slightly confused. "When did anybody have time to do this?"
"Don't know. Don't give a fuck. As long as it means we get to sleep safely I don't care how it got here. Just roll with it, or it might decide to leave." Sadie walked into the room, leaving two slightly confused men outside. For a few moments they wondered why they were not already inside.
Just a few.
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END CHAPTER THREE
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AND… done! Sorry for the wait but I took the weekend off to collect my thoughts.
Yes I will be slowly introducing the special infected. No I am not using the Jockey or Spitter, I do not know how to explain how they work.
The hunter will be used often, it's my favorite!
Once again please read and review. I typed thirteen pages, one hundred hits, and finally broke ten thousand words, I WANT SOME FUCKING CONGRATULATIONS DAMNIT!
Erhm… that aside I finish this story on a high note…
(^(00)^) evil piggy!