Many A Damned Soul.

*Here we are my friends, another of those rascally Special Infected. This one details the fastest of them all, The Rusher. He is fast, that is all you need to know now, you will learn, soon. Enjoy!

(Yet again I do not own L4D, L4D2, or any other thing by Valve, I only own the Special Infected I have created (The Flamer, The Listener, and now The Rusher) if you wish to use them in a story, ask for permission. Oh and I also own CEDA Guy (who still needs a proper name :C)*

Chapter 3: The Rusher.

Running was everything to me. I loved it. Nothing would ever get me to stop. My entire life revolved around running. I have no idea why, just the speed, the wind whipping through my hair, my feet pushing me across the earth. The only superhero I ever liked was the Flash, because of his speed. There were other things I liked of course, like hanging out with friends, chilling with family, going to amusement parks and the like. Teenager stuff. But those were just icing on the cake, and the cake was running. It was also a pretty useful tool when the damned Zombie Apocalypse happened.

It was about four or five in the evening, and me and some pals of mine were going for a good jog around town. I was, as always, ahead of them, whooping with glee, even though I was only going not even a quarter my top speed. It happened faster then I could react. A bunch of what I suppose were crazy people began pouring out of everywhere. They attacked anyone they saw, grabbing them, beating them with fists, biting them. This worse then a nightmare. The streets were all chaos as people began killing each other. My friends and I were struck dumb at the suddenness of it all. But we didn't get much time to stand there gawking like idiots, as a group of the crazy people were booking it towards us.

"Run!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I turned and fled away.

I heard some screams coming from behind me and knew some of my friends were being attacked. They were my friends, but I knew that I had to get away, so I just kept running, and running, until I was as far away from them as possible. I kept going, never stopping, never tiring. It was only till I heard a massive explosion, and saw what looked like a fireworks factory going up in flames I decided to stop. Being the genius I am, I thought it would be a good idea to hide in an alley way. Biggest mistake of my life.

It was more quiet in the alleyway, but I could still hear the screams, and the gunfire. Here seemed like a good stop, I had enough room to make an escape if needed, and I could tell if anyone tried to sneak up on me. But I knew that it would only be a matter of time before some of those crazy people came after me. Thinking back, I realised the only thing that surprised me was not that there were crazy people like the ones in the street, but that this happened so fast like it did. I knew that this Green Flu pandemic would be very bad, I just didn't realise that CEDA had so little control, and it would explode like this so soon. And from the sounds coming from the rest of the city, it was getting a hell of a lot worse. I was too wrapped up in my thoughts I didn't notice the dirty figure walk up to me. Before I knew it, something grabbed me, and chomped down on my shoulder. Whatever the hell did this, I threw it off me, grabbing a piece of wood, from what I thing was broom, and smacking it upside the head.

"Gah! What the fuck man? What was that all about?" I demanded. It didn't do anything, the guy, who I think was one of those crazy people, got up. But he didn't stay up long, as I think I might have cracked his neck. The force of him getting up probably fully broke his neck, and he slumped to the ground, dead. Man that was scary, and not only that, but I had killed someone. The realisation that I had committed murder, even in self defence, caused me to start to panic. I dropped to the ground, clutching my knees, breathing fast. I stayed there for well over a minute, before deciding that I had to keep going. But as I got up, I felt strange, my head was light, and my vision swam. The Green Flu! I must have caught it from this guy! But, it should not take this long to be infected. Shows what I know.

The last thing that went through my mind was how I would never get to run again. Well, I could probably run as a crazy person, but I wouldn't enjoy it. It seemed that everything in my life was ruined, and now I would lose the one thing I loved the most. I didn't get much thought after that, as I passed out.

P.O.V Shift, CEDA Guy. (this is also a little in the future, so yeah, just to let you know.)

Me and Kayla had been walking for quite some time. I was running low on ammo for the pistol I had looted of a dead cop, and Kayla's Bat was looking pretty busted up. She was also pretty busted up, physically and mentally. After seeing her best friends roasted alive, and then the last guy in her life who she knew well get ripped to shreds, she was not doing so well. I wish I could help her out, but I was not that kind of doctor. All I could do was give her a reassuring smile now and then, and try to tell a joke or two, keep her spirits up. It helped, but not as much as it could have.

We needed to find some more Survivors, and soon, we were starting to run into some more of these creatures, I called them The Special Infected, due to there different nature then the regular infected. So far we had run into a creature in a hoodie that jumped on you, and tried to tear you up, a tall man with a very long tongue that he uses to wrap you up and drag you away, a fat man who throws up on you and attracts the Common infected. I knew there would be more, so we needed help.

"Hey, um, CEDA Guy, do you have a name?" Kayla asked me. "I mean, when we were with, the others, you never gave us your name, just your occupation. Then all you did was tell us about the infected."

"Eh, you can just call me CEDA Guy, I don't really have much of a name." I shrugged. "Besides, it makes me feel a little formal or something. Like I'm some sort of big shot super hero."

Kayla just giggled at me, but her little bit of joy didn't last long as a Common Infected walked in front of her, and she smashed her bat over its head. She was miss glum for awhile after that, and only when we got into one of the CEDA Saferooms, did she say anything.

"Do you think we will get out of here? Alive?"

"What? Of course we will! We are going to make it Kayla, we just need to find more people like us, hook up with them, and find an evacuation centre."

"But you saw those, what did you call them? Special infected? They are too dangerous, what if we are the last ones left?" I could tell she was going to start to cry soon, so I walked up and gave her a hug.

"Don't worry Kayla, we will get through this, no problem."

She gave me a hug back, burying her face in my shoulder as she started to cry. I held her for a bit, and then she walked back, her eyes puffy with tears.

"Thanks CEDA Guy, sorry for messing up your shirt. I think I'm going to go get some sleep, you should too." And before I could say a word, Kayla pulled out a sleeping bag from the corner, and snuggled inside. I just smiled, and followed suit. It had been a long day, and a Longer day it would be tomorrow.

P.O.V Shift, The Rusher.

I woke up with a scream, the pain was agonising. It seemed like a dream, but I knew it was not. I was Infected. But how could I still think? How could I still remember? If I can still remember, shouldn't I be crying? Scared out of my wits? Standing up, I knew something was different about my body. My arms were longer, and I was much skinnier then I used to be. The only part without a big helping of skinny with a side order of skinny were my legs, they seemed to have gotten much stronger, with more powerful muscles. My hands were clawed, not very big, but I could rend someone up with ease. My eyesight was keener, and my hearing was boosted. My teeth seemed to have formed into strong jaws, that I could use to bite up someone good. And the next thing I noticed, was this sense of speed, like an itch, that could only be scratched by running. Something was urging me on to run. I always like to think that my love of running came from somewhere, now I felt like I did.

With a loud hysterical scream of a laugh, I rushed off into the distance. My new legs carried me much farther much faster then before. I was laughing, but this was not my normal laugh, this was a hysterical happy laugh, and I couldn't stop. It was only until I stopped running did I stop laughing. Instead my laugh turned into a little giggle, that was quiet enough, but slightly disturbed me. What was I now? Was I a zombie like the rest? Or was I something more? Something inside of me, I guess what was left of the old me, asked myself, why am I not crying in a ball at this if I can remember what I once was? And the new me replied, "Because you don't care, you don't care what you are now, or was before, because of the fact, what you are now, is better, faster, stronger. What you were before is nothing compared to what you are now."

"But I liked who I was, I enjoyed being faster then my friends, and they didn't mind. I like my family, I like my school, everything was awesome in my life, now its gone."

"It doesn't matter, you are better. Your friends are dead, they were not worthy! They were not worthy of what you are!"

"why me, why not someone else?"

"Because your special Corrie. You are very, very special. And now you better find some food, or your going to starve."

I have no idea what was wrong with me, I just argued with myself, and lost. But the other side of me was right, I was hungry, very hungry. So I began to let loose my maniacal laugh as I charged off to find food, weaving in-between the cars, and the debris.

P.O.V Shift, CEDA Guy.

Kayla and I decided to stay in the Safehouse for a few more days. For one thing, it was safe, and there was plenty of food, water, and even guns and ammo. And second, there was a strong chance that other Survivors would see the door and investigate. You don't put a massive steel door on nothing. We talked a bit, I got to know her a bit more. She was young, just hit age 20 about a month before things got crazy. She went to university, she was studying to be a veterinarian. She loved animals, and was not very good with people. The people I met up with her with were some friends from the university she had, and one of them was a kind of her boyfriend. We don't know what happened to him though, I wasn't sure if he got burned or not like the rest, and she wouldn't say either.

Kayla tried to get some info on me, but all I told her was I worked for CEDA, hated my job, but it paid well and I thought I was helping people. I told her about people who were immune, and how she was too as she has been bitten before, and still hasn't turned. I was immune as well, and glad for it. We got closer over the past few days, and our suspicions that people would be coming by were true. After the fourth day, we heard voices outside, I grabbed the rifle that was on the table and peeked it through the bars. Looking through the scope, I saw five people heading towards the door. One of them was held up by two other people, and the others were staying one in front, and the other behind. I made sure they were not being followed before opening the door, and calling over to them.

"Hey! Over here! It is safe in here!"

That got there attention. As fast as they could go, they moved in with us. I could see how bad the one being carried was. He had several claw marks and bite marks all over them, and he was not doing well at all. Whom I suppose was the leader of the group, a big man wearing a military outfit approached me.

"Ya got any Medical supplies in here?" he asked me, pulling out a smoke and lighting it.

"Yeah, but not much, whoever was here before us stripped it almost bare for medical supplies. But we do have some guns and ammo, and food.

"That's good, that's good. Anything else ya got in here?"

"just the food and guns, with what little medical stuff we have.

I heard a groan, and turned to see the injured man being propped up on a table. He was starting to lose a lot of blood. I moved over with the box of medicinal supplies and tried to fix him up as best I could. One of the other people, a young girl about same age as Kayla, wearing a blue shirt that was drenched in blood looked at me wide eyed.

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I do know some things about injuries. What did he get hit by?" I inquired at the military man.

"We have no idea, he was just attacked by something is all we know. We were moving west of here, when we heard this laughing sound. God that spooked the hell out of me. And before we knew it, something hit ol' Jerald here and knocked him flying. Couldn't even see what the hell that thing was. It was moving very fast. He picked himself up, and got his gun ready, but again, it went after him. This time the blasted creature grabbed him, and pulled him, scratching him up real good. Then the thing just vanished. The laughing stopped, and we managed to get away. Jerald got beat up bad, but the laughing just wont get out of my head."

That shocked me. I never thought that there could be this many of these Special Infected. I walked up to the leader, and asked him everything he could remember. It wasn't much, only that it was fast, laughed like a mad man, and clawed and bit up Jerald.

"Sir, do you know anything about the Special Infected?"

"Special Infected, what in the name of hell are they?"

"Well, I will explain as well as I can."

For about an hour, I explained to them the Special Infected that I knew about, how they worked, what their abilities were, what I could guess as to were their weaknesses, and signs that they were around. They asked questions, I answered as best I could. As time went by, I eventually learnt who they were. Their leader was named Grayson, he was in the military, and was tasked with trying to stem back the Infected. Unfortunately, he told me everyone in his squad were either torn apart or Infected. Larry was one of the others who was making sure they did not get attacked on there way here. He was a tall Asian man, with very long hair, and he carried a shotgun, with a crowbar on his belt. he says he learnt to carry a crowbar during a zombie apocalypse from video games. Their were two girls, one of them was the girl who asked me if I was a doctor. Her name was Izzie, or Isabelle. She was only sixteen, and she seemed scared out of her wits. She was near the epicentre when the Infection hit bad, saw her little brother get eaten alive, and has been barley holding on since then. The other girl, I use that term lightly by the way, seemed like she was some sort of body builder, or something. She carried a big hammer on her waist, and was holding a big gun. She smiled at me though, and seemed like a nice person. They just called her Shadow, as when they met her, she didn't say a word, just followed them. The only other person there was Jerald, but he wasn't saying anything. Me and Kayla introduced ourselves, Kayla first, then me. I didn't say my name yet, just called myself CEDA Guy. That got me some looks, but Shadow seemed almost approving. The look she gave me was one of understanding, like she knew what it was like to not want to speak of your past. I decided I like these people, and we should stick with them.

The Next Day.

Jerald was feeling better in the morning, so we decided to start moving out early. The coast was clear, so we moved as fast as we could, hoping to find another safe house. And it seemed lady luck was on our side as we moved through the town, as there were only a sparse amount of Common's. and then we saw it, the big red steel door of a Safehouse. Jerald was almost whooping with joy, and he moved on ahead. He needed new bandages, and there was for sure going to be some left behind. He didn't get very far, as the sound of maniacal laughter was heard speeding towards him, and then a blur ran into him, pulling him away screaming. We tried to go after him, but we couldn't catch up. But eventually the screaming stopped, and there he was, Jerald dead on the ground, his chest torn open, and some creature standing over him, eating his insides.

It saw us, and started laughing. It was horrible. It was not too tall, but not very short. The legs were very strong looking, accounting for its speed, and its claws were pretty big, but they seemed to retract. The body was rather skinny though, so it didn't look very strong in its upper body, must have used inertia to get most of its power in its attacks. But all that paled in comparison to its face. The eyes seemed to bulge out, bloodshot and insane looking. Mouth seemed pulled back, in a horrible grin, teeth sharper then a sharks, dripping with blood. The hair was long and straight. It looked and us, and we looked at it, before it began to laugh again, and grabbed Jerald's corpse and running off. We heard a surprised yell coming from Shadow, as she ran off after the thing, gun blazing, but to no avail. This thing managed to escape, taking the lifeless body of Jerald with it. Shadow dropped to the ground, crying. Grayson was surprised. We all were. Our numbers had been cut down, and not wanting to risk another one, we went into the Safehouse. Shadow didn't say anything, she just went to a corner and sat there.

"Were they close?" I asked Grayson.

"I-I don't know, they never seemed close, but she did seem to like him, and he stuck with her a bit more closer, now that I think of it."

I shook my head, and sat down in a chair. Now I had another one to take note of. Back at the other Safhouse, I found an old notebook, so I pulled it out and started taking notes on all the Special's we had encountered. He added a new one, The Rusher. This place was getting worse, and we needed to find evac, soon.

P.O.V Shift, The Rusher.

The amount of glee I felt was almost palpable. I got my first kill, and the fear they felt when they saw me, that just added to it. I stopped running away when I felt I had outrun them. My kill was really tasty, and I knew he would be better now that I didn't have to worry about bullets.

"Good. You did good Corrie. See your strength. See your power, your speed! Know how perfect you are, how BETTER! You are then them."

I felt a beam of pride slice through me, and I looked up, smiling to no one. I don't know who this voice was, but he was right, whatever I was before, I was weak then. Now, I am akin to a god now! Like Hermes, albeit with more of a killing build, and less of a messenger. I hunkered down and began to eat what was left of this poor bastard who got in my way.

Watch the Speed limit… it could kill you.

*Hey hey! Another chapter done! I hope you enjoyed this one, it's a bit longer then my other ones. I needed to give an explanation on how CEDA Guy got with a group of Survivors. And I have fully decided… I am going to put a cheesy one-liner at the end of each chapter xD. The next chapter will detail *ominous music* THE STALKER! And yeah, I do understand that it is a common name for things, so if you have a Stalker in your story or something, unless he is the exact same as my Stalker, keep it to your self. Until next time!*