Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.
A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm back with chapter eight! I hope you're all enjoying this so far!
Happy reading!
~ Not So Forsaken ~
- Chapter Eight -
Leaning her head back against the wall, her bag feeling heavier than it had before, Julia slid to the floor and stretched her legs out in front of her.
The rain seemed to be slowing outside, so the group decided to give it a little while to see if it would stop completely before heading back out. She was sitting next to Nick, who was also sat with one leg stretched out in front of him and one knee bent, his elbow resting on the bent knee and his head leant back against the wall.
"We all doin' alright?" Coach asked, earning tired nods from his fellow survivors, "Y'all did good out there. Keep that up and we'll be outta here in no time."
"Hey, if anyone sees any hand sanitiser, let me know, huh?" Nick said, studying his somewhat grimy hands.
"You're not scared of one little germ are ya, Nick?" Coach asked with amusement written all over his face.
"One germ just nearly wiped out the entire human race, Coach, so yes!" Nick replied with an irritated look aimed at the older man, "A little more hand sanitiser and we wouldn't be in this mess."
"He's got a point." Julia said from her place on the floor, fiddling with her bag, "If it wasn't for one little germ, this wouldn't have happened."
"Yeah... But we wouldn't have met, right?" Ellis asked, his eyes bright and hopeful, "If it wasn't for that germ I'd never have laid my eyes on Zoey..."
Nick gave him a rather disgusted look but instead set his gaze on the young redhead next to him, who, to his amazement, pulled a bottle of hand sanitiser from her bag. He gave her a smile that made her think of a child on Christmas morning who'd opened their final present to find the gift of their dreams waiting for them. She smiled at him sweetly and gave him the bottle, revelling in the rather adorable expression of joy on his face.
"Where'd you get this?" He asked her, squirting some of the gel onto his hands before starting to rub it in, allowing her to take the bottle back.
"I grabbed some back at that mall. You never know when you might need it." She explained, resting tiredly against the wall as she put it back in her bag, "You feel better now?"
"Yeah. I really do." Nick laughed quietly, rubbing the last of the gel into his hands, "Thanks."
Coach was looking through the small window in the safe house door to see what the weather was doing, and much to his and the others' relief, the rain had finally come to a stop. Getting to their feet, they each adjusted their bags and prepared to head out into the streets again.
"Let's hurry, man. I miss my car." Ellis murmured, heading out of the door first.
Rolling his eyes, Coach followed suit, and then Rochelle, leaving Julia and Nick at the back. Nick couldn't help but smile at the fact that his hands, at the very least, felt somewhat clean. They headed up some steps and onto a small street, where thankfully, only a few zombies lingered. A bright red neon sight caught Ellis' attention, and at the sight of the word 'Tattoos', he let out a cry of delight and hurried towards it.
"Hey, Nick! You and me oughta get tattoos that say, 'Bros'!"
Nick stopped in his tracks, looking horrified at the notion. Everyone else gave him small smiles of amusement and kept walking, leaving him to steadily join them in the tattoo parlour. Julia was admiring one display of designs with Ellis, while Coach and Rochelle were admiring the others.
"I got that one... And that one..." Coach was saying, pointing to various designs, "Hell, I got damn near most of these..."
"Where?" Rochelle asked warily.
"Shit, it's all South of the border."
Rochelle and Julia both shared horrified looks, and an involuntary shiver of disgust ran through the older woman's body at the mental images that her brain had just been filled with. She was busy praying for Coach's tattoos to be on his ankle, while Ellis was looking at the designs with Julia.
"You got any tattoos, Jules?" He asked her warmly.
Yes. Julia did have a tattoo. Not the conventional kind either. The smile retreated from her lips for a brief moment but she managed to catch it, bringing it back to her lips again. The thought of this particular marking on her skin wasn't pleasing and it was shameful to her, but she managed, somehow, to push all of that back into herself again.
"Sort of." She murmured, "Not the usual kind anyway."
"Oh, what kind?" Ellis asked her, looking a little unsure.
"Never mind." Julia said sweetly, offering him a pat on the arm that was supposed to be reassuring, "It's not important."
"Hey, Rochelle, do you want me to tattoo your boyfriend's name on your arm?" Nick spoke from the back of the room, "I'll just write 'Greasy Pig'. We all know who we're talkin' about."
Rochelle looked both affronted and embarrassed. Her brief encounter with Francis, who was devilishly handsome and had a pretty impressive build, had led to a hint of teasing from Nick, who clearly thought she had the hots for him. Rochelle wouldn't lie, she kind of did. He was a big, strapping guy with a deep, strong voice and clearly, given the fact that he'd winked at her from his place on the bridge, a somewhat small attraction to her. Yeah. He was pretty hot.
"You know something, Nick? He was a hell of a lot nicer than you." Rochelle said darkly, "And he's better looking too."
"I beg to differ." Nick laughed, "Hey, Jules? Who's hotter? Me, or that greaseball biker back at the bridge?"
Julia looked up, alarmed. She didn't know how to answer that question and she certainly didn't want to. Thankfully, Rochelle came to her rescue, whether it was intentional or not. Julia was never comfortable discussing whether or not she found other men attractive. She wasn't even allowed to look at other men in any way shape or form when she was with Kevin. Looking at other men was what had earned her the 'tattoo' she had.
"Hey, don't bring her into this." Rochelle said with a glare, "We need to get moving."
"Come on, y'all." Coach said, passing Nick and stepping into the street, "Let's go."
Heading back into the street, the five survivors made their way across to an alleyway, spotting an open door leading into a building on their right. Coach led the way with Nick and Rochelle behind him, leaving Ellis to linger at the back with Julia, who still didn't seem right. Maybe he had asked her the wrong question or something. She seemed pretty upset about the tattoo thing, whatever that was. Now, she was looking solemn and she was getting that glazed look in her eyes again.
"Are you okay?" He asked her quietly, searching her brown eyes for any clue as to what was wrong with her.
"I'm fine, El." She said softly, smiling at him in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, "Thanks."
He knew not to push any further. For some reason, his instinct told him that no matter what his doubts were, he shouldn't push her any further. While the others may have thought him stupid, he knew that Julia certainly didn't and he, himself, knew that he wasn't. He could tell that she was a private person. He sensed it in the way that she kept to her own small area of space and in the way that she talked very little about herself. He also got the impression that she found Nick rather intimidating, but that seemed to be changing the longer that she spent time near him and in his company. At least Ellis was safe in the knowledge that the twenty-one-year-old liked to be around him. He guessed...
They passed through a back room and into a bar area, with two pool tables and an old jukebox by the far wall that Ellis was dying to try out. However, the others' focus wasn't on the jukebox. They were staring at a zombie with belts of ammo strapped to his chest, who was carrying, of all things, another first aid kit, a bile bomb, and a bottle of pain relief pills.
"Shoot that zombie!" Nick ordered, "He's got something!"
The guy was clearly infected and wasn't going to get any better. He just about had the consciousness to understand that they were going to try and kill him, and rather than go after them, he made a break for the window he was standing near. Julia couldn't bring herself to raise her gun. Nick, on the other hand, shot the zombie dead without any hesitation whatsoever. It made her shiver to think he could just coldly kill that person, who knew that he was about to get shot at. The conman didn't waste any time in looting the body either.
"Anyone need these pills?" He asked, holding up the bottle in his hand.
"Give them to Jules." Coach instructed, "As repayment for the hand sanitiser she wasted on your germ-fearin' ass."
Nick glared at the larger man but didn't take him up on it. Nick held some respect for Coach, given the fact that he was the voice of reason in the group and had it in him to keep everyone else calm. Julia hadn't had a meltdown in that mall because Coach had encouraged her and asked her to keep it together. Nick had heard the conversation go down during his search of the room they were standing next to at the time. He remembered how Coach had calmed Ellis down in the elevator, and he knew that to be the strong member of the team took a lot of effort. So, for once, Nick backed down. He strode across to Julia, pocketing the bile bomb, and handed her the pain pills.
"Thank you." She murmured, going to put them in her bag.
"You take the medkit, Coach." Nick said, his tone holding just a hint of forced civility.
"Thanks." Coach said, taking the first aid pack from Nick before slipping his bag off to put the kit inside.
It was a tight fit, but it went in eventually, and once his bag was zipped back up, Coach announced that he was ready to go. The group moved to the windows to see what was waiting ahead of them, and much to their dismay, it was a pool of muddy water and a far-from-stable construction site with a handful of zombies wandering around in the water.
"Oh, great. My suit's definitely gonna get ruined now." Nick muttered, leaning out of the window to see if he could spot another route over the water, "Oh... Maybe not. We might be able to use the window ledges to jump across."
"Jump? This ain't a video game, Nick. We can't jump across there!" Ellis protested, leaning out to look at the gap, "Not without scrapin' a few knees anyway."
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather scrape my knees than run through filthy water." Nick argued, earning a roll of the eyes from Coach.
"Well, fine. You go first and show us how it's done." He said with a sigh, watching Nick climb out of the window, "What is it with him and germs?"
"Some people don't like the thought of them." Julia said quietly, going to follow Nick before calling softly after the suited conman, "I'm covering you."
She knelt down, aiming her M16 at the few zombies wandering in the water below. She kept an eye on Nick, who took a running jump and actually landed quite gracefully on the next ledge, which surprised everyone who was watching. He then took another running jump and again landed perfectly well on the solidity of what was left of the concrete ahead of the others, holding his rifle up triumphantly.
"Someone join him before somethin' else grabs him." Coach muttered, moving to cover Julia as she took a deep breath and went to follow him.
Her feet pounded against the ground as she ran to the edge of the current space before she leapt across the gap, landing in a much less graceful fashion on the next ledge. The sound of her landing, staggering and subsequently crashing into a shuttered window next to her startled the zombies in the water, which thankfully, Coach and Nick took out between them.
"Come on, Jules!" Nick smirked at her, "You can make that jump! It's nothing!"
'Yeah, nothing for you. You don't have a body full of bruises.' Julia thought, if a little bitterly, and she once again ran for the edge of the ledge she was on, leaping into the air with as much strength as she could.
She landed on the other side with Nick, who moved to catch her as she stumbled. She had a tight grip on one of his arms but she was quick to right herself with his help, and she gave a small, embarrassed laugh, returning her grip to her rifle. Coach came next, trying to be careful because of his knee injury. Nick had to quickly pull Julia out of the way so that he could steady Coach once he reached the other side. Rochelle came next, caught skilfully by Coach as she reached the other side, and then Ellis came last, almost slipping backwards when he got to the other side. He was, thankfully, saved by the girls, who rushed to grab the mechanic's now grubby hands and pull him onto the concrete with them.
They squeezed their way past a forklift and then headed towards a small staircase, leading into another bar. There wasn't any other way to go, and like their journey thus far, it seemed that they were destined to take a very complicated route to get to the 'Under the River' tour. Nick took the lead again with Julia and Rochelle behind him, and Ellis and Coach at the back. The bar was deserted apart from one lone zombie in what looked like biker gear, which Nick instantly killed, no doubt as a release for the strange disdain he had for Francis. It was an action that Rochelle didn't miss and an action that earned Nick a vicious glare from the twenty-nine-year-old, who was desperately trying to keep her cool and keep her mouth shut.
"Up these stairs." Nick said as he stopped at a doorway, "Jesus... How many obstacles are we gonna have to avoid?"
"God knows." Julia muttered, "It's getting pretty annoying though."
"Let's just keep goin'." Coach said from his place at the back of the group, "Positivity is the key."
"Positivity, my ass." Nick complained, rolling his eyes as he got to the top of the stairs, "Oh... Hold on..."
He aimed his flashlight into a room at the top of the stairs, highlighting a suitcase which had lots of money sitting in it, as well as another pistol. He grinned to himself, immediately going to approach it.
"I like the way this guy packs..." He murmured, "Do I have room in my bag for this cash or what?"
"What are you gonna use that cash for, exactly?" Rochelle asked him.
"Hell, money gets you anything you want if you've got enough of it." Nick said with a dark chuckle.
"It used to." Rochelle said, tightening her grip angrily on her AK-47, "In case you haven't noticed, the world's ended."
She moved out of the way, barely able to contain her temper, which seemed unusual for Rochelle. The others figured it was probably some bitterness due to Nick's teasing about Francis that was the cause of the anger, but nobody took her up on it. Nick decided to leave the money since he figured it wasn't worth causing any more stupid tension between people, and he followed the others towards another set of stairs. Heading up said stairs, again they were only met with one lone infected, which Julia took out with her Magnum. They then came across a plank of wood to cross to get into the next building.
"Well... This'd be a bad time for a Smoker..." Ellis murmured, watching as Coach walked across the plank first.
"Jesus... It's not gonna take any of us if it's already had to deal with his weight." Nick murmured, earning a rather angry look from the girls, "What?"
"Come on." Rochelle said through gritted teeth, "Quit foolin' around."
Julia went next, keeping her eyes focused on Coach rather than looking at the distance between herself and the ground. Rochelle did the same, as did Ellis, and Nick followed on behind, keeping an eye out for any unwanted infected that might happen upon them. They continued to move through this next building, searching floor by floor to try and find any useful supplies, only to come across another couple of Molotovs and a bile jar, which someone had carelessly left rolling around on one of the flights of stairs.
The group then headed into the street below, looking for any indication as to where they should go next. A high pitched squeal caught their attention as they pressed forward, a trail of bright green acid illuminated against the murky sky as the Spitter in pursuit of them ran to the right of where Ellis and Rochelle were standing. As she emerged, the Spitter hacked all of the mutated stomach acid that she could into her throat but before she could spit it at the quintet, rounds from Rochelle's AK-47 hit her straight in the head and neck, sending her tumbling to the ground with a rather shocked cry.
"Damn!" Nick exclaimed, clearly impressed by the producer's speed, "Rochelle!"
Rochelle gave him a warm smile, quite obviously very pleased with not only herself but her ability to earn herself some praise from the most critical of their team. They waited for the Spitter's acid to dissolve away before even daring to proceed, and when the path was finally clear, Rochelle and Julia took the lead, with Rochelle determined to prove that she was more than capable of leading their group, even for a little while. Julia just followed. She'd never been a leader, and she knew she never could be, so she stuck to what she knew best.
"Into the pool hall." Rochelle said loudly, indicating the building ahead.
She and Julia walked in first, scanning the environment with their flashlights. Again, there was nothing useful, so they headed towards the well-lit hallway on the other side of the bar. At the sight of bathrooms, everyone took the opportunity to empty their bladders, considering that they'd all gone a while without doing so.
Everyone seemed to feel a bit better after their little bathroom break, and they proceeded to head down the stairs in front of them, leading to the entrance of the 'Under The River' tour. The look on Nick's face was priceless. Rochelle and Julia both moved to look at what they were walking into, their expressions ones of pure disbelief. It was literally an old basement that was being passed off as a historic attraction.
"Only in the south would this be considered a tourist attraction..." Rochelle said, shaking her head.
"Why is everything historic always so filthy?" Nick muttered, brushing his shoulder as a trail of dirt fell from the ceiling.
The five of them proceeded to walk on the wooden boards that had been laid out as a walkway, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. A few groans and growls were coming from the way ahead, but Rochelle and Julia were ready for tackling whatever was in front. Rochelle had her machete at the ready, and Julia had her Magnum, but Ellis stepped forward with what was once Julia's crowbar and moved Julia closer to Coach and Nick. Sneaking up on zombies and saving ammo was a better idea than wasting it all when cracking a few heads could easily solve their problems.
In silence, the group followed the walkway into an even dirtier room, where two infected were wandering, one of them vomiting in the corner of the room. Ellis moved first, followed by Rochelle, and the two of them wasted no time in getting rid of the threat in the room. When the machete went through the skull of the vomiting infected, Julia had to turn away. The sound and the visual was enough to make her want to vomit too, and as she heard the slicing sound of the machete leaving the infected's skull, her throat filled with bile.
She leant against a nearby wall, bending forward and putting her head down, close to her knees. She took deep breaths, feeling a gentle hand press against her back which caused her to almost yelp in pain. It was Coach and he was only trying to be helpful, but he was putting his hand right on one of the more painful of her collection of bruises that she'd gathered across her torso over the past few weeks. She winced at the pain but kept taking deep breaths, hearing Nick's voice close by.
"I'll get myself out of the splatter zone. These shoes weren't cheap."
"Nick!" Rochelle hissed, placing her hand on Julia's side comfortingly, almost holding her in a motherly fashion, while Coach's hand remained on her shoulder, moving in soothing circles, "That's enough!"
"I'm fine, guys, really. I just need a second." Julia protested, lifting her head, "It was the sound, you know?"
"Well, the smell's even worse." Ellis complained, wrinkling his nose in a childlike manner, "Don't breathe through your nose when you pass those bodies."
"Yes, thank you, Ellis." Rochelle said sharply, easing Julia back into an upright position, "Take a couple more deep breaths, honey. Does anyone have any water?"
Nick pulled a bottle out of his sports bag, handing it to the producer who gave it to Julia. Taking a long drink out of it, Julia took a moment to regain her composure, and thankfully, after the drink, the colour returned to her face and she felt much better. She thanked Nick shyly for the water and wiped the neck with a clean part of her t-shirt before handing it back to the conman, who gave it a wipe of his own with a clean part of his suit jacket.
"We need to get going." Coach said softly, "Are you okay now, Jules?"
"Really, I'm fine. Thanks." Julia muttered, readying her Magnum again, "Let's go."
The rest of their walk was uneventful and very quiet, with only whispered pieces of conversation passed between Ellis and Julia. The second that they arrived at the top of a dark staircase, though, all conversation stopped. Nick shone his light down between the stairs, his expression one of deep concern.
"Perfect... Looks like something out of a horror movie."
"Like the staircase scene in The Grudge. You know... In the office building?" Julia suggested, hearing Ellis pipe up beside her.
"Oh, yeah! When the girl with the dark hair's crawlin' up the stairs and twitchin' and stuff!" He exclaimed breathily, seemingly afraid to make too much noise lest he draw unwanted attention, "That movie is scary as all hell, man! Me and my buddy..."
"Not now, sweetie." Rochelle muttered, "Let's take these stairs very slowly. They don't look all that sturdy to me."
Julia, the smallest and no doubt, the lightest of the group, gingerly took a step onto the staircase first to test its sturdiness. It was a very brave thing to do on her part considering the drop if the whole collapsed, but she was prepared to. If it couldn't take her weight then they might have to look for another way. But, sure enough, it firmly held without any sign of creaking, groaning, swaying or anything of the kind.
"Let's go." She said quietly, "It seems fine."
They carefully headed down the stairs in a line, being sure to leave a gap between each person in case they were confronted with anything on the stairs that they needed to get a quick escape from. Soon enough, they were met with a mangled part of the staircase, where they stopped and all took a good look over the edge, Julia's light shining upon a pile of bodies that lay beneath the broken stairs.
"A sewer filled with bodies!" Nick's tone dripped with sarcasm, "This is sanitary!"
The five of them looked at the murky water below and then to each other, wondering which of them would be brave enough, or stupid enough, to jump in there first.
~ To Be Continued ~
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Thank you for reading this so far!