Disclaimer: I do not own any component of Left 4 Dead including the different special infected, only the characters which I have personally created. All credit on the infected and anything relating to the game goes to Valve.
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For awhile I just stared at her, not entirely sure what to do. Should I leave her there, or move her? If I moved her would she wake up and try fighting me again? If I didn't move her, would she wake up screaming and scared, or wake up angry because she was … what was the word, uncomfortable? I could feel myself frowning, the idea of getting socked in the mouth again didn't sound too appealing. That blow she'd gotten in on me when I'd pinned her in the street hadn't felt all that great.
In the end, I decided to move her, but the smell of the two dead lesser infected caught my nose. That definitely had to go first. Yuck. Turning my back to her just long enough to pounce over and grab one of the bodies, I got a bad feeling. What if there was one of those gun things inside the house? I wouldn't be able to turn my back on her until I found it and got rid of it, or at least assured myself there wasn't one here.
I'd only look away when she wasn't awake for now. Slinging the body I had grabbed on to over my shoulder I bound over to the door, stepping around the girl and opening it. I jogged over to the waist-high ledge that was apparently supposed to keep people from falling, and chucked my package right over it. I hopped back inside and repeated the process with the remaining dead undead, then closed the door and eyeballed her once again.
If I was going to move her I should probably put her on one of those square soft things. A bed. They had one here right? Crawling into the room the couple had come from, I noticed it indeed had a bed, and a couple adjoining rooms. I didn't care what was in them, just that the girl had a place where she wouldn't wake back up screaming or doing something that would attract attention. Turning around, I stood and moved towards her.
When I reached down to pick her up, I almost wasn't sure how to do it - I wasn't going to be as rough with her as I was with the lesser infected. Besides, I was an expert at putting people on the ground, not getting them off it. It would have been easier if she was awake and could hold on like before we'd gotten here or could just walk there on her own. I also didn't want to drag her, what if it woke her up and she started screaming? That would attract any lesser infected in the building, and they might have a way of getting up there. I've seen them climb before.
The more I thought about it, the realization that I'd seen survivors carrying each other before hit me. I'd carry her like they carried each other, that would work fine. I crouched down, sliding one arm under her knees and the other around her back, then stood. I walked over through the doorway, careful not to hit her head on it, then laid her down on the bed. I then retreated back into the corner to watch and wait, my mind drifting back into thoughts on how I was going to make this work.
Not too long into it, I started feeling tired myself. Yeah, that's right, I sleep too, though I didn't want to. She could easily wake up and try to sneak away... but would she, when she didn't have anything to fight the other infected with?
The gun thing! I'd almost forgotten! Slinking out of my corner, I started searching the tables near the bed. They had sliding compartments which I checked in as well, carefully searching every crevice for the object that could present me and my plan with harm. I opened the door to one of the adjoining rooms, which happened to be one of those shiny white rooms, and searched the wall cabinet. Nothing there either.
I went to the other door in the same room, and opened it to see hanging clothes and shelves. A closet. Standing up the shelves were easily within my reach, and searching through the different boxes I wasn't finding anything. A sudden rustle alerted me that she might be waking up, and I stopped looking around and went to back into the room.
She rolled around, first onto one side and then onto the other, mumbling something incoherent. Senseless words, the living didn't say those when they were awake. Was she still sleeping? I moved in, looking closer. Her face was contorted in discomfort, and she continued to talk slowly making more sense.
"No.., stop, don't do it..."
Her struggles were getting a little more violent with whatever her invisible foe was. I figured she was dreaming, I'd done that a couple times.
"You big ugly monster..."
Was she talking about me? She was crying now. I hadn't realized how close I'd gotten until she suddenly opened her eyes with me right in her face. She started screaming and yelling before I was could react, jumping on her and pushing her mouth closed. She was still fighting against me, still crying. Pushing at my shoulders.
I growled at her, and bared my teeth, remembering how quiet she'd become last time, and physically she seemed to calm down. She quieted down, too. I slowly backed off of her to the floor at the edge of the bed, crouching and waiting for her to do something. I'd have to watch her constantly, I never found a gun and hadn't finished my search. There could still be one around somewhere.
Sitting up she looked down at me, "What do you want from me anyway?"
It was then that I had a rather shocking epiphany, how were we going to communicate with each other?! I understood her language, but that didn't mean I could speak it anymore! I didn't know how to answer her, so all I could do was sit there and wait for her to do something else.
"Of course you won't answer, you don't know how to talk."
Good, she figured it out, that made things easier... Even if only slightly.
"Well... I'm going to go use the bathroom. Don't follow me in there, okay?!" She gave me an accusing look, which I didn't understand at all. What's a bathroom? She looked around the room, and saw the open doorway leading into the white shiny room. She looked back at me and slowly got up, backing towards it. Was that the bathroom?
There wasn't a way out from in there... So I didn't have to worry about her going in there alone. Plus I'd searched there, for a gun, and hadn't found one. I didn't need to worry about that either. I'd just have to listen for when she decided to come back out, and use the opportunity I was given to go back to looking for a gun.
I went back to the closet first, and finished looking around in there. I looked in lots of different compartments and under chairs in the main room, just about everywhere, when I finally found it. A small gun, like the one's she'd had before, in the soft cushion of a chair. I heard her coming out of the 'bathroom', and was forced to act quickly. I bound over to the door and opened it, then threw the thing as far as I could. It sailed, right over the edge of the building and down to the street below.
Her last chance at hope was gone, and she didn't know it. Good. I came back in and shut the door. When I didn't see her in the main room, I suddenly felt worried that she'd made an escape. I dashed back to the room with the bed, to be sure she was still in the roof house. I saw her by the closet wrapped up in something fuzzy. A towel. She turned and looked at me, gasping when she realized I was there. Bending down, she picked something up off the floor.
A swift dodge meant the object she'd thrown at me very narrowly missed my head. She kept throwing things my way yelling, "Get out, get out!" What the hell was her problem?! The multitude of objects she was throwing and the noise she was making was easily getting on my nerves as well as putting us both at risk, so I did what I would have done to anything else that bothered me.
I pounced her. She crashed down onto the floor, and I held her there by her wrists, growling a warning at her to knock her behavior the hell off. She continued to struggle against me, which left me confused. She always got still when I growled at her, why didn't she now?
Looking around us I noticed that the towel she'd been wrapped up in was on the floor about a foot away. Then I looked down at her and oh jeez she was naked.
That's why she was angry. I'd almost forgotten how much dignity and modesty that the female living had over their bodies. This wasn't good, she'd probably put a lot more effort into trying to escape now that I'd... uh, violated her. Something was going on between my legs. Erg, this was just too uncomfortable! Letting go of one of her arms I was reaching for the towel to cover her when I received a well deserved slap to my right cheek.
She was punching at me, my arms and chest, desperately trying to get free. I ignored it all as I grabbed the towel and threw it on her, immediately jumping away and retreating out the doorway to duck behind some furniture. I eavesdropped on her from there, I could hear her crying and I could smell her fear and anger. I felt... guilty? I paced back and forth on all fours, listening to her and progressively feeling worse. I eventually snarled and dug my claws into the couch I was behind, shredding out a decent chunk of stuffing.
I was screwing everything up. If things got much worse than this I'd give up on it and kill her. I crouched and rested there, avoiding looking into the doorway but still keeping my ears trained on her. I heard a couple slamming noises, like she was hitting something, but ignored it. As much as I wanted to know why she had such a profound effect on me, I hadn't planned on making myself so miserable in the process.
I'd rather kill her than let her make me feel this way.
Eventually I heard the creaking noises that a bed made when someone climbed on it, and over time her breathing slowly became more relaxed. With that, I relaxed too. The storm had passed, for now.
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It was happening, all over again. As the tank made it's entrance the car that was flung so easily into the air crushed Emily like a rolled up newspaper did a fly.
Within a second I saw Eric get punched into a nearby building, crushing his skull. The blood spatter and brains coating the brick so vivid I wanted to wretch. The tank then turned to Jake who was still pounding him with bullets, and gripped him in its huge meaty fists, "No, stop, don't do it!"
I couldn't watch, I turned away only to face the same scene I hadn't wanted to see. It tore Jake in half, his insides spraying all over me. I writhed under them, they were so heavy, and they moved like snakes. Looking down, I could Jake's bloody intestines wrapping around me and leaving me constricted.
"You big ugly monster!"
I was so terrified I began to cry. When I looked up again, the tank was ablaze. How...? He was some thirty feet away reaching into the ground and pulling up an asphalt block. He threw it and I flopped to the side, still bound by Jake's insides and very nearly getting crushed. I wanted to escape it all. For the nightmare to be over. I couldn't move, he was thundering closer and closer...
Then I woke up. When I opened my eyes, all I could see was sweatshirt, nose, and mouth. Where was I, what had happened? I started freaking out, shouting and moving away from the stranger at the side of my bed. Before I knew it he was on me, holding me down and forcing my mouth shut. I bit my tongue. I struggled for a moment before I heard the growl.
That's right, I'd been kidnapped by a Hunter. I almost wished I was still dreaming. I needed to calm down, keep under control. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed and he climbed back down onto the floor. He had the power right now, not me... but that didn't mean I couldn't be a smart-ass. I sat up and looked down at him, "What do you want from me anyway?"
He continued to sit and stare at me, I rethought my question and rolled my eyes, "Of course you don't answer, you don't know how to talk."
I was trying to smack talk a fucking zombie, ugh. Was I going crazy? Probably. Either way, I really, really needed to pee.
"Well... I'm going to go use the bathroom. Don't follow me in there, okay?!"
Why was I still talking to him? Like he knew what the hell I was saying. Looking around the bedroom I noticed that there was an attached bathroom – how convenient! I moved off the bed, shooting him a dirty look, and never taking my gaze off him to make sure he didn't follow. I backed my way through the doorway, closed and locked the door, then dashed for the toilet. Sweet relief..!
Getting my mind off my bladder, I looked for a window. Of course, there wasn't one. Shoot, that was a bust. Feeling disappointed I sighed, and a really nasty smell hit my nose. At first I didn't know what it was, then I tried smelling my shirt. Gross, it was me who stunk! I needed a shower.
Actually, a shower sounded really good right now. So irresistibly divine. I tried the water, and it worked. If I was in a penthouse, it must have a private well – separate from the rest of the building. A private generator too, so that the rich bastards living in it still had all their luxuries during a storm. It was a good while before the water got warm, but once I had the temperature where I wanted it I pulled the shower tab and closed the curtain.
As I yanked off my shirt I could hear the hunter digging around out in the kitchen and living room. I wondered what he was doing out there, easily coming to the conclusion that he was breaking stuff. Oh well, it didn't matter. As I went to take my pants off, I noticed that they were sticking to the skin on my leg. Either I'd gone through something gooey or... I'd hurt myself. That's right, when I'd fallen through the hole in the floor I'd scratched my lower leg on the rubble. Leaning in for a closer look, I saw that it had closed up. Nothing too severe, that was comforting. I'd look for a medical supplies to cover it with once I was done washing up – I couldn't have it getting infected.
Pulling out my ponytail, I finally hopped in. Oooh, the water felt sooo goood! There was still shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. All the different things I needed to get clean – including a shower puff. The people who'd lived here must not have tried escaping the city, or maybe they were early turners? Either way, they hadn't packed up a bunch of stuff and left, and the place hadn't been raided from what I could tell.
Probably wouldn't be raided. That got me thinking about how the likelihood of a survivor pack coming by to save me had just dropped to negative one. I needed to take this time alone to think about how I was going to solve my hunter problem. Really there was only a couple things I could do – figure out what he wanted from me, or try and escape. Escape sounded better. Or maybe I could do both... work on an escape plan while playing along?
I didn't have a weapon, but there might be one around the house somewhere. I'd keep my eyes peeled for it, and look around when he left to go do... whatever hunters need to do. Like kill people and eat them. The image of the bottom half of his face came to mind, and I shuddered, wishing he'd shredded me to death back in the street. I hated being confused, and now was one of those times.
If I found a gun and killed him, there wouldn't be much I could do unless I could get out of the building. I should see if there's a private elevator – there likely was – or a fire escape. Some way to get down off the top of the building after I was alone. Alone... that word sparked a lot of bad feelings. No, I couldn't think about my friends now! I needed to get clean, get out, get dressed, and concentrate on my own survival.
Finishing my shower, I got out and saw one small towel hanging on the back of the door. Seriously? And I was not going to put my nasty dirty clothes back on. I sighed and dried off, wrapping myself up in it as tightly as I was able. I could probably find clothes in a closet or dresser to wear until I could get my own clothes clean. First though, I needed to take care of my leg. Fishing through the medicine cabinet, I found some gauze and medical tape. Going to work, I wrapped the gauze around the wound then taped the top and bottom – that would do for now.
Just as I opened the door and walked out of the bathroom, I saw the hunter dash out the doorway. Where was he going? It didn't matter, it gave me time to find clothes and start looking for a way out of here. I went to the closet first, to see if there were any dresses – anything that hinted at there being a woman who used to live here. If I could avoid men's clothes, I would. Seeing a couple expensive-looking dresses I was relieved. As I turned to go check the dresser, I gasped in surprise when I saw the hunter staring at me from across the room.
That pervert! Grabbing a shoe I threw it at him, pissed that he would just burst in on me when I was mostly naked, "Get out, get out!"
He was quick, dodging all of the shoes, and obviously not taking the hint. As I bent down to pick up yet another projectile, I got knocked to the floor, effectively tossing the towel off of myself as I flailed my arms in surprise.
Oh my God, I'm ass naked under a hunter! Is he gonna' rape me? When that thought went through my mind I was terrified to the bone, and started trying all that was in my power to throw him off me. There wasn't much I could do, seeing as he had me by the wrists. It wasn't long before he growled at me, like usual, but I wasn't relenting this time. Not when he was gonna'... no! I could feel something growing warmer against my stomach and it damn near confirmed my suspicions.
As he let go of my left arm, I did the first thing that came to mind and slapped him. He didn't even flinch, but I kept hitting him anyways, unable to look at him out of fear. Suddenly I felt the wet towel land over my upper body and his weight lifted off me. I sat up so I could yell at him some more, but he'd already gone.
Okay, now I was really confused. He didn't... do anything? I burst into tears, flooded by a sudden array of different emotions. I was afraid of him, and afraid that I was going to die. I was angry for letting myself get into this situation and angry he'd see me naked (enough to punch the wall a couple times). On the other hand, I was glad he hadn't done what I'd thought he was going to do.
Still crying, I quickly dug through the dresser and started pulling on whatever I found. The only women's underwear I saw happened to be thongs, but it was better than nothing. The cups for the bras were too big, so I let that slide. I pulled on a too-big T-shirt and a pair of soft pajama pants that fit the waist but were too long in the legs.
I was tired, and depressed. I just wanted to sleep, or die. Or die in my sleep, that would have been better. The chances of me getting out alive felt slim to none as I crawled into the bed and got under the covers, pulling them up over my head. I wished the infection had never happened, and that I was at home in my own bed with a stuffed animal to keep me company. Unfortunately, that's not how things were, but I couldn't just accept it all at the drop of a hat. In only a couple of minutes, I managed to cry myself back into a fitful sleep.
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A/N: Here we are, chapter two. :) I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to go about the continuance of this story, but I'm going to do the best I can to keep you readers happy. I'd greatly appreciate some constructive criticism, and I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who's read this fanfic. Chapter 3 should be up Thursday next week – keep it cool.