LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN
Chapter 7: Woo! The story gets longer!
Church Lunatic: NO! No one gets in unless I am sure they're Immune!
Bill: Son, we're immune, we're tired, and there's infected in the damn woods. Now cut out the shit and let us in!
Church Lunatic: Only when I know you are human. Get ready for the test. DING DONG. DING DONG! Dinner is served! COME AND GET IT!
Bill & Stupid Church Guy from 'Death Toll'/Left 4 Dead (1)
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Narration
Sound effects
INFECTED
Important/Exaggeration
WALL WRITING
Henderson stepped forward, reaching his hand out to James. "My name is Stacy Henderson," when he realized James was not going to shake his hand, Henderson made a gesture to the younger survivors. "This is John Baker and Sadie Graham." The man continued to stare at them.
"May we come in?" John was the one to speak now. The older man obviously owned the church now, so it seemed the right thing to ask.
James made a short annoyed grunting, but turned to open the safe doors. He gestured his hand toward the open doors, "Come in."
(^(00)^)
The church itself was not very special… at first glance. It was a small, one story, rectangular building made from brick. The roof was slanted on either side and the front end was adorned with a tall white steeple.
Inside the building was a different story. The church was dimly lit, giving a slight orange glow to everything inside its walls. The many of the benches and pews that used to be evenly spaced before the pulpit, were now stacked against windows and doors. The few remaining benches were turned into makeshift beds. The previously clean floors were stained in many areas with some unknown liquid. Like the last safe room that the survivors had passed through, the walls were littered with notes from other survivors, but the trio paid them no notice for now.
John, Henderson, and Sadie walked into the building as James closed the door behind them, wedging a lead pipe to ensure it would not open from the outside. When he finished, James began to give his tour.
"The beds are over there.," He pointed to the unused pews, "they may not be comfortable but they're much better than the floor. All the food and water is kept by the pulpit." He waved his hands lazily to the back of the building were a small part of the floor was raised higher than the rest.
The Survivors followed James to a corner half hidden by a barricade. Behind it was a small gasoline powered generator. "The generator feeds the lights at night, but I'm starting to run low on gas."
John was confused. "If you're low on gas, what about what's in the barrels outside? Can't you use that?"
James shook his head at the boy. "Son, that may be gas, but those weren't out there by accident. If I had to choose between lights or safety, I'd choose safety."
The way the man had responded had left a bad taste in John's mouth. He may have been wrong, but the older man didn't have to be so blunt.
"I guess you can stay until further notice." James turned away from the trio and proceeded to the beds.
(^(00)^)
JESSICA CHAPMAN
January 12 1888- July 1 2010
GOOD FRIEND
BETTER OFF NOW
Sadie put down the marker.
The walls of the church had been lined with obituaries to those lost in the outbreak. It felt right to add her. Maybe her family would pass by… maybe not. Jessica deserved more, but nothing better came to mind.
'Sorry 'bout your friend… but… I think she's much better off now'
The kid was right… Jessica was doing much better now. Sadie tore her mind away from the message and began her task of finding and distributing food between the three survivors. No one knew what James would do, so for now the survivors prepared themselves for the next day.
The survivors decided to spend the night in James' church for the night. The man seemed reluctant to let them stay, but he did not push the subject any further. James, John, and Henderson were sitting amongst the benches. John was sifting through the pile of ammunition for anything he or Sadie could use.
Henderson had John's shotgun and was taping a flashlight safely to the end of the barrel. If something happened and the survivors had to fight in the dark, he wanted them to be prepared.
James sat across from the other two, cleaning his hunting rifle inside and out. When he asked Henderson if they were maintaining their guns, he was disappointed to find that the responsible man had neglected to clean any of the firearms.
As the rain finally passed and an awkward silence descended on the survivors, John attempted to start a conversation.
"So… how long have you been here?" The youngest survivor looked to James for a response.
The older man was silent a few moments before he decided to respond. "I've been here since the first day. I was lucky enough to be on this side of town where the infected attacked."
"Oh." John had been surprised that the quiet man had even responded. He decided to press his luck. "How did you fight off the zombies for so long?" He immediately regretted his question once James tore his gaze from the gun. He looked to the younger boy as if John had said the most unintelligent thing in the world.
"Umm… zombies?" James tried to understand what John was asking. Sadie and Henderson stopped their tasks to listen to the conversation.
"You know… zombies." It was John's turn now for strange gazes. "Living dead? There're the thousands of bastards littering the city, and their very reason for living… or whatever… is to eat and infect us? What have you been hiding from?"
A look of realization flashed across James' face. "What have you been doing this past week son?"
Henderson found this a good time to join in the conversation. John and I were held up in a classroom for the first five days. We escaped through the vents and ran into Sadie on the sixth day. We found a safe room on campus and spent the night there. Today we found you." The ex-teacher recalled the nightmarish week as best he could to the older man.
James thought to himself for a moment. "So ya'll never did have any contact with the outside while you were hiding?"
Henderson shook his head.
James turned to Sadie. "You?"
"Nope." Sadie walked over to the other survivors and took a seat. "I hid for the first few days. I traveled around for two days after that. Most of the TVs I saw were busted and I never heard shit on the radio."
"Hmm, I see." James rose from his seat and paced nearby for a few minutes. Not able to think of an easy way to say it, he went with the ugly truth. "Those aren't zombies."
"HUH?!" Sadie nearly screamed in confusion.
John tried to make sense of the oldest man's words. "What are you talking about? If those aren't zombies… what the FUCK are they?"
"They're infected." James stated bluntly.
"But we know that." Henderson finally found his voice.
"No… I mean it's a disease that is making people into those monsters. They announced it a few days ago before the television signals were lost." James sighed in annoyance, the survivors didn't understand him. He sat down again and explained it to them. "The disease is a strange form of rabies. The sickness is passed through body fluids and infects the host very quickly, depending on how much of the infected fluids get in their system. The infected's skin excretes sweat and other things constantly to help it spread. Just one scratch, or even touching an open wound can infect someone."
Henderson realized what was happening now. "That's how it spread so fast, any attack could cause infection. Too many people are not immune to the sickness so nearly everyone who ran from New Orleans that day…"
"…Was a ticking time bomb." James finished the man's thoughts.
"Whoa, hold up." Sadie jumped into the conversation. 'You're telling me that all those sons a' bitches we've been killing… are just sick people?!"
James shook his head, he wished it were that simple. "You shouldn't think about it like that, it will get you killed. A lot of people though that it was just a sickness tried to help their already infected families, only to get killed. There is no going back once you're infected. The disease kills most major organs, leaving only the lungs, brain, and heart for a few moments. The heart stays active for a few days, but it eventually gives out due to the stress. The disease puts its victims in some sort of adrenalized rage and as a result, they attack all uninfected. The poor souls are un-curable, the only thing to do is to put them out of their misery."
John realized that James was right, but up until now he had believed he as killing a bunch of soulless corpses. The idea that all those people… "Why? What in God's name caused all of this?"
James looked to the younger boy. "This is man's doing, not God's. This is what happens when man tries to cheat death, to play God. Governments and corporations sought the ultimate cure for everything, but ended up causing the worse epidemic of all time."
Henderson sat in thought for a few moments, then asked a question. "Did they say anything else about the infected?"
James nodded in reply. "Yes, the ones on the television believe that the infected may decay away… in a few years."
The survivors' moods were slightly elevated at this thought. They had originally thought the infected creatures would be around forever, but if they could decay, all they would have to do was out last them.
"What about body heat? Since they have no blood flow, shouldn't the infected be cold or something." John looked to James for confirmation.
The older man nodded his head again. "That's true, but what good does it do? We're in Texas it barely gets below thirty here."
"It's all part of our plan." Sadie decided to explain to James. "We're gonna try to find an evac sight and get to Alaska. If we can survive there longer than the infected, we win." She smiled at Henderson, glad that she had taken his job of being the smart one.
James thought for a moment before responding. "How are you going to find an evacuation without a radio? Forget that, how do you even know where to go now?"
"We're going to Hubbard. There're supplies there and John's family was planning their escape from that town. We need to see where they went, if they left, or at least what happened to them. We owe it to him, Alaska was his idea." Henderson smiled to the youngest survivor.
"That's actually not a bad idea, son." James commented on the boy's plan. "The only problem is finding transportation. Ya'll do realize you're betting a little too much on luck, right?"
Sadie rolled her eyes at the older man. "It doesn't matter. If we stay here, we're dead. If we fight, we're dead. So running's the only option left."
"She's right, you know." Henderson turned his attention solely on James now. "You won't outlast the infected from in here. They'll pick this city clean and move on to the next one, just like New Orleans. Eventually you'll run out of bullets, food, or even sanity."
"So…you're inviting me to come along now?" James thought about the offer, but he knew Henderson was right. The infected would be the end of him, in time. The survivors' plan seemed the only way to survive. Even so, James did not like their chances. Leaving the church could lead to an even sooner death. "You seem able to take care of yourselves well enough, so why would you need me? I'm getting old and would probably slow you down."
"Hah, that's a flat out lie, old man." John scoffed at James' attempt to avoid them. "You just saved our asses just a few hours ago. Besides, there are some things out there that are worse than the infected."
"What do you mean by that, boy?" James was intrigued by the youngest survivor's words, what could possibly be worst than a world full of infected creatures?
"They're changing, haven't you seen?" Sadie commented. "We've fought some of the zombie… infected… whatever's mutated cousins!"
James stared at the trio quizzically. "I don't understand what ya'll are talking about" For the last few days all I have seen where the humans infected by the virus, nothing else!"
"They're telling the truth." Henderson stated. "We've fought a four mutated infected during our travel. Two of them could jump unbelievably long distances. Another had its body enlarged and had super strength. The last was like a berserker; it would cry loudly but once we got near it the thing went ballistic."
Sadie added in her thoughts. "We only survived those fuckers because we saved each other. If you try to fight one of those on your own… man you're shit out of luck."
"She's right." John added. "We need as much help as we can get to survive, and you won't last long on your own, so why don't you come with us?"
James argued the choices once again, but the appearance of the new infected ruled out any thoughts of surviving on his own. "Fine, I'll come along. I'll probably die, but it will be better than waiting to die in here."
Henderson smiled to the older man, glad to have a new partner. "Well, we better rest up, tomorrow we go car shopping." He pulled himself off of the pew and set out to make his beddings for the night.
"Then," John concluded, "Its home sweet home." The boy spun his body around into a laying position on the bench and began to fall asleep.
Sadie scoffed at the younger boy's enthusiasm. "Don't get too comfortable, we won't be staying long." She arose from the pew and found her own bench to sleep on for the night.
James could not decide if his choice was the right one, but he felt a bit better knowing he would be doing something the next day. The oldest, yet newest, survivor finished cleaning his rifle and retired for the night.
(^(00)^)
HUZZAH! I AM DONE!
Tank you all for waiting, and I'm very sorry for the late review. But now spring break is upon us and I will have a week to myself, so expect maybe two chapters this week.
On to busyness: I introduce to you the fourth and final survivor! Yes I know his joining was obvious, but I still wanted to make the old man stubborn.
Lastly I would like to, yet again, thank my reviewers: The Golden Echo, Sanima, Biteme4eturn-t, Happy Forever, Cyber Trauma 1123, and Rem Ri. Thank you all, you alone are keeping this story going.
Please stay tuned for the next chapter of Left 4 Dead Homegrown.
(^(00)^) Typed John Baker (Guardian Shotgun)
=) Beta-asized by Adrienne Donaldson.