Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.

A/N: Hi, guys! I noticed in the last chapter that I forgot to mention something quite important... The conversation that Julia and Ellis share regarding tattoos is important, and its something that will be raised again in later chapters. I hope you're all enjoying this so far. Thanks to everyone that's been reading this. It really does mean a lot. It would also mean a lot of I could get some feedback on this. I'm kind of wondering whether to continue the fic or not if I can't see whether you guys like it. Please, feel free to review.

Happy reading!

~ Not So Forsaken ~

- Chapter Nine -

"Cannonball!"

The splash that sounded below let everyone know that Ellis, protected by his boots and overalls, had landed in the sewer water below. Rochelle, realising that there was no point in putting off this unpleasant task any longer, jumped in next, almost gagging when some of the water splashed on her neck and cheek. Coach followed after, shooting at a couple of infected that were wandering in the far, dark corners of the water they were stood in, while Julia and Nick remained above him and the others on the broken staircase. No matter how he tried to rationalise this in his head, Nick just couldn't bring himself to move. He really couldn't bear the thought of being in contact with this much filth.

"I don't wanna do this." He muttered.

"I know it's horrid... But we have to." Julia said anxiously, unable to reassure him as she'd like to, "I'm just as unhappy about this as you."

"Nick, come on! Just get it over with!" Rochelle called up to him, "We have to go!"

"Together?" Julia suggested, "On the count of three?"

"Okay." Nick answered, clearly needing to gear himself up for the drop, "You count."

Seeing Nick anxious seemed very unusual, and he clearly was very anxious about this. He was a very clean and germ conscious person; that much was already apparent to everyone else. So, Julia took it upon herself to try and just give him that little boost of courage he quite obviously needed. No-one liked the idea of walking through sewage, but for someone with what could potentially be a phobia, it would seem a hundred times worse than it really was. She took a deep breath, turning her gaze to him to let him know that she was about to start counting.

"One... Two..." Julia began, getting ready to jump, "Three!"

A big part of Julia had suspected that Nick would abandon her and let her jump alone, but he didn't. He jumped with her, and as they hit the water, a visible shudder ran through the thirty-five-year-old as he tried to adjust to the feeling of the disgusting water going into his shoes and soaking his socks and lower legs.

"It's just a storm sewer..." He told himself quietly, closing his eyes and breathing through his mouth deeply to try and calm himself down, "It's just a storm sewer."

"Don't smell like one." Ellis murmured from his place ahead.

"Ellis, I need this!"

"Hey, Nick..." Coach said with amusement in his voice as they set off walking, "Wasn't that suit supposed to be white?"

As Rochelle, Ellis and Coach took some amusement out of Nick's anxiety about being in such an unhygienic place, Julia actually felt some sympathy for the conman. She didn't want to be in this water any more than Nick did. Her sneakers, feet, socks and the bottom of her jeans were soaked in God only knew what, and the thought made her feel just as sick as she'd felt back upstairs, so she could only imagine how he was feeling. It just seemed to be a massive joke to the others, who probably had no concept of how disgusting this actually was.

"Hey, Nick, what's new? Oh, not much, I couldn't drive Jimmy Gibbs' stock car over a bridge, so I'm crawling through a shit-filled sewer so I can lower it. You?"

The sound of Nick talking to himself snapped her out of her reverie, and she caught up with him as best she could, reaching into her bag to find the hand sanitiser that she knew he'd desperately want. It might just make things easier for him to get through this part of their journey.

"There's a ladder over there!" Rochelle exclaimed, her eyes bright as she pointed to the ladder in question, "We'll be out of this water in no time."

Once they'd climbed the ladder, Julia had finally found the sanitiser bottle, and before Nick could go anywhere, he felt Julia gingerly touch his arm, almost as though she was afraid to, and then she handed him the bottle. He held it with surprising strength, barely able to wait before opening it and pouring a good amount of the sanitiser onto his hands.

"Hey, don't waste it..." She spoke in a soft, almost motherly tone, placing the bottle in his pocket as he rubbed the gel into his skin again, "Keep it. You might need it again."

Nick looked at the dark-eyed redhead with a weak smile. The germ thing really was a problem for him. Germs and dirt were things that he'd always had a problem with from being a young kid, and it was something that everybody he'd come across had made fun of him for. But not her. Not Julia. She'd tried to be understanding, and she'd tried to help him, and for that at least, he was very grateful.

"You're too good to me, sweetie." He said, his deep voice quiet and unusually reserved, "Thanks."

Her smile seemed to broaden, as though the positive response gave her confidence, and they finally got themselves moving towards the others, who had reached a gate which looked as though it would be activated by a button to the right of it. The only concern was whether or not the button would trigger any loud noises... Not that anyone had the chance to think about it. Ellis hit the button without waiting for anyone else's input, and a loud, obnoxious alarm started to ring out into the cavernous darkness ahead while the little gate ahead of them opened up.

"Oh, fuck..." Nick grimaced, looking at the cesspool ahead of them, "Back in the shit water!"

This time, not one person hesitated before jumping into the water below. Running as fast as they could through the water, which was soon becoming tiring, the group tried to find some way to get to higher ground as zombies started to pour in from behind them. Ellis and Nick were shooting at the back, while Coach and Julia were running at the front, their weapons blasting any infected that came sprinting at them out of the dark. All of a sudden, Julia caught a wonderful sight amidst the murky darkness that lay ahead which was their only salvation for that moment in time.

"I spy a ladder!" She yelled, moving as quickly as she could towards it. "Come on!"

She quickly shoved her M16 clumsily into her duffel before jumping up to grab onto the ladder, trying to heave herself up to the top as quickly as she could. The others quickly followed, with Nick left at the bottom, trying to keep the oncoming horde at bay while everyone else got to the top. Julia immediately got her gun back out again, as did the others, and covered Nick while he climbed up to join them.

"Keep going!" He yelled at them as he neared the top, "Go! Go! Go!"

Ellis and Julia were first to the next obstacle, which was yet another gate. Knowing that he had no option but to hit the button, Ellis did, unleashing another ringing alarm that only made the first alarm sound more obnoxious. Running ahead, leaving Coach and Rochelle to wait for Nick, Ellis and Julia tried to clear a path for the five of them while trying to find out where they had to go to get out of there.

The others caught up quickly, and at the realisation that they'd have to run back into the water, Nick groaned audibly from the back of the line. Coach yelled at everyone to get back into the water, and Julia stayed back to provide some cover, allowing Ellis to lead at the front with Coach and Rochelle in between. Nick and Julia were moving backwards, trying to shoot at any infected that were attacking from the back as the others hurried into a very dark tunnel ahead of them, which looked ominous and frightening since they couldn't yet see the end of it.

Up ahead, in the darkness of the tunnel, Ellis' flashlight caught sight of what must've been fifty plus infected sprinting through the water at remarkable speed, causing him to cry out in alarm before opening fire at them. Amongst the flashlights which were shimmering in the darkness, along with the beams of the group's laser sights and the falling bodies of the infected, a shadow could be seen crawling towards them from the now visible, well-lit end of the tunnel.

"We got a hunter!" Coach yelled, pointing towards the hooded monstrosity, "Someone shoot the damn thing!"

Nick seemed more determined than anyone else to kill it, probably because he didn't want to end up on his back in a tunnel of what he'd deemed to be 'shit water', and after successfully getting a shot in its head with his sniper rifle, he let out a celebratory yell, taking a second to revel in his victory.

"Take that, you mealy-mouthed bastard!"

"Damn, I'm impressed!" Coach exclaimed, "Come on, y'all! Keep runnin'!"

Shredding through the oncoming horde like there was no tomorrow, with the alarm still ringing in their ears, the five of them finally made it to the end of the tunnel. They were met with a ladder, which Ellis climbed up first, followed by Rochelle, Julia, Nick and then Coach. Hurrying up the narrow staircase that they found themselves at the bottom of as infected poured towards them out of the tunnel, Ellis and Rochelle called out to the others when they spied a safe room in the space above them.

"Everyone, in here!" Rochelle yelled, beckoning the remaining three members of their group into the safe room, "Come on!"

Coach got inside first and started to help Ellis prepare to barricade the door. Once Julia and Nick were safely in the room, Rochelle slammed the door shut and everyone else rushed to get it blocked off so that the infected couldn't get in. They hammered on the door, grunting, squealing, growling, screeching as fists pounded against the steel shield that separated them from their food.

Everyone desperately tried to catch their breath while trying to ignore the sounds from outside. They were all uncomfortable, a little cold, sick of the smell of the sewer and more than ready to be on their way. They were fairly sure that now, they were where they needed to be and they couldn't wait to get moving. The thing that everyone secretly wanted was to change their clothes, but there wasn't time for that. The sooner they could be on their way to New Orleans, the better.

"We all ready to move?" Coach asked, looking to the others as he straightened himself up from where he'd been bent forward catching his breath, "We all okay?"

With varying responses of, 'Yeah, we're fine', Coach moved towards the exit of the safe room. The five of them stumbled out into a thankfully quiet area, with the only sound being Ellis trying to calm himself down since they were about to come face to face with Zoey again. Rochelle looked a little excited at the prospect of seeing Francis again, and Nick couldn't help but make a little fun of her for that. Julia stayed at the back of the group, quiet, nervous, extremely tired and feeling sick at the thought of reaching an evacuation zone in New Orleans and having to come face to face with Kevin again, if he was still alive, of course.

On the bridge, which was ahead of them as predicted, stood Zoey, Francis and an African-American guy who was sitting between them, and who the group assumed was their injured man. Zoey looked rather young, yet it seemed that her experiences over her time during this whole apocalyptic mess had aged her somewhat. She seemed rather stern and cold, but the group remembered that she'd mentioned something about losing someone; perhaps a close friend or a relative. It was understandable that someone would appear cold after something like that.

Francis, who was a handsome biker and who towered over Zoey by some considerable height was a little more friendly, discussing the stock car with Ellis and beginning to get into conversations about his interest in bikes. There wasn't the time for that though, and the nine of them knew it. Rochelle really did seem to take a liking to him, which only seemed to amuse Nick even more than it had already.

Then there was Louis, who was wearing a shirt and tie combo which gave the impression that he was in some kind of management job or a job that involved office work. He was pleasant enough and very cheerful despite his injury, and apparently despite his own group's loss. There were expressions of condolence made by Rochelle and Julia on their group's behalf on account of their fallen friend.

After a moment more of talking, Coach invited the other group of three to join them on their journey to New Orleans, but they declined with Francis announcing that they'd had enough of the military. It was obvious by Rochelle's reaction to this declaration that she was a little disappointed. Ellis was also disappointed that he wouldn't get to know Zoey any better, but he was clearly determined to enjoy whatever time he had to admire her from afar.

Zoey directed them to an elevator nearby where they could head to ground level and then scavenge the area looking for fuel to fill up the generator with. Coach split them off into teams, with Rochelle and Ellis going with him to search the areas away from the generator and with Nick and Julia scouting the area nearby. They knew that the noise they were going to make, and their movements in the area were going to draw unwanted attention, so the three other survivors promised to cover them from above.

"Alright, look... No messin' around." Coach said as the elevator slowly descended, "Let's fill up this damn generator and get back to the car."

"You got it, Coach." Ellis said quietly, "Man, I hope Zoey gets to see me kill one of them Tanks..."

Nick rolled his eyes at that comment, as did Coach. Rochelle smiled politely, her mind clearly on other things, while Julia simply stood with her gun at the ready, trying to quell the feeling of anxiety and apprehension at the task that lay ahead. The thought of being alone with Nick was scary. She knew it wasn't the time to start overthinking or worrying but she couldn't help it. Despite the fact that they'd somewhat bonded over hand sanitiser of all things, and despite the fact that she'd forced herself to be near him, the thought of being alone with him when the situation was urgent and when it needed her full attention was rather harrowing for her. She didn't know what to do other than let him be in charge. She would do what he asked of her and it would be much easier that way. Sticking to what she knew was best play at that point, which was being obedient and quiet.

The elevator came to a stop, the shutter opened and the group headed out in different directions. Coach took his group through the warehouse that they were in, while Nick and Julia headed out of the door nearby, where they found the others waiting for them up on a balcony of a nearby bar. Louis gave the pair a wave, and Julia waved back, but as she did so, she happened to turn her head to the right.

And there, in a dimly lit room with a trail of blood leading up to him, was the friend that Francis, Louis and Zoey had lost. Bill. He'd given his life for them and now Nick, Coach, Ellis, Rochelle and Julia were responsible for undoing that work. It made the young redhead feel horrifically guilty. Nick, who noticed how quiet she'd gone, turned to see what had caught her eye. When he spied the dead body of Bill, dressed in his military clothing with his cap still on his head and his gun in his lap, he had a good idea as to why Julia was distressed.

"Don't look..." He said, taking her by the arm gently so as not to startle her, "Let's see what's down here."

She turned to look at him, her eyes glittering. It was one thing looking at a dead zombie, but a dead human who hadn't turned? That was clearly a lot harder for her to deal with. She wasn't fully with Nick at all, and he knew it. She was dealing with a lot of information that her brain was struggling to process. He remembered seeing his first dead body and he'd only been eighteen at the time, so he could understand how shocking it was.

"Jules, you've gotta focus now, 'kay?" He said, pulling her away from the generator, "We need to move. Come on..."

Once they left the space where the generator was sitting, Julia's focus seemed to return to her, which gave Nick a feeling of relief. The last thing they needed was for her to be distracted. They walked together with her seemingly wanting to keep some distance, trailing behind him with her head lowered. She would cast her gaze around every few seconds, but she was quiet and reserved as usual.

Reaching the end of the street, the pair looked around to see if there were any gas cans nearby, and sure enough, there were two of them by some scaffolding to their left. Julia picked up both cans, and she and Nick broke into a run to get back to the generator. As they did, they heard the shrieking of a car alarm in the distance and then a hoarse cry seemed to come from everywhere.

"Fucking Ellis!" Nick yelled, turning around and opening fire as zombies started to climb over the walls where he and Julia had just collected their gas.

"How do you know that was Ellis' fault?!" Julia cried, gasping in horror as infected started to emerge from the front of them, speeding down the hill towards them.

"Of course it was Ellis!" Nick replied, "Who else is that fucking clumsy?!"

Reaching the generator, Julia quickly unscrewed the lid of the can in her right hand and started to pour its contents into the fuel pipe. Nick was trying to shoot the zombies approaching from behind them while Francis, Zoey and Louis were trying to provide cover from above. As she opened the second can to fill the generator, the voices of Coach, Rochelle and Ellis could be heard coming from her right. Ellis was carrying one can of fuel and Rochelle had three which were all bunched together in her arms, while Coach was busy trying to shoot at the horde running behind them.

"SMOKER!" Francis' voice bellowed over the pounding feet and the screams of the zombies, and Nick managed to catch sight of the special infected on a balcony ahead of himself and Julia.

Using the scope on his rifle, Nick aimed as quickly as he could at the Smoker, took a deep breath and fired, hitting it straight in the head. It collapsed with a wheezy gasp, leaving a cloud of putrid smoke in its wake. When Rochelle got to the generator, Julia busied herself with unfastening the cans ready to hand them to Rochelle, who poured them into the generator as fast as possible. There still wasn't quite enough.

"We could use a couple more cans in here!"

"Jules, let's go!" Nick yelled, heading in the direction that Rochelle, Coach and Ellis had just come from.

Shooting through zombies together, they covered each other well enough until they came to a small store, where Julia spotted two more cans of fuel inside. She raced inside to get them, knocking a waiting infected out of the way before rushing out towards Nick, who shot the zombie that followed her out of the store. A roaring from their right caused them both to spin in shock, only to find not just one, but two Tanks hurtling towards them.

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Nick looked horrified, but he shoved Julia on regardless, "Run!"

They broke into a sprint down the hill, screaming to the others who were dispatching the last of the horde that a Tank was approaching. Julia looked back, only to see one of the Tanks standing at the top of the hill with a huge, jagged slab of concrete in its hands. It launched it towards them, and Nick had to grab Julia and throw them both to the ground to avoid being hit. Julia's body screamed in protest at the impact thanks to her prior injuries, and as she landed, one of the fuel canisters flew out of her hands, thankfully towards Coach, who picked it up.

Nick roughly pulled her to her feet and they kept running with him turning every few seconds to shoot at the Tanks. A yell of 'Fire in the hole!' from Zoey and the smashing of a bottle let Nick and Julia knew that the Tanks were now engulfed in flame, which only seemed to piss them off more. Julia, panting for breath and shaking at the knees, joined Coach at the generator who was just finishing emptying his can into it and then started to open hers. She poured the can into the generator, smiling when it reached the top.

"That's it!" She yelled, hearing the bridge suddenly kick into life.

Finally, she wrenched her M16 out of her duffel bag and started to help kill the last Tank, which collapsed to its knees after a few seconds of everyone firing at it. No-one, however, was prepared for the sudden roar of a bull that came from the right. The Charger was running at incredible speed, right towards Nick, who was standing to the left of Julia and Coach. Without hesitation, Julia rushed forward and shoved the conman harshly out of the way, but unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough to move out of the way herself. She was caught by the Charger, who carried her off her feet with incredible force where she then was slammed into a nearby car.

Nick, who was trying to recover from the sudden shock of being pushed over, looked up to see flashes of apple green and dark blue as Julia's body was slammed time after time into the concrete, her body limp and limbs flailing like a ragdoll's in the Charger's grip. Bullets were hitting the Charger at an unbelievable rate, yet it still continued to pound her into the ground. Julia couldn't speak. The pain was so intense, she was sure she was going to die, and as the Charger pummelled her into the ground once more, her world suddenly fell into darkness.

Quickly getting to his feet, Nick raced across to where Julia now lay prone on the ground, the Charger dead by her side. He couldn't believe that she'd just put herself in harm's way for his worthless ass and that she'd been almost killed doing so. The hit she'd taken in the mall from that Tank had caused her enough damage, but this? He had no idea how bad she was going to be. He was surprised at his own feelings at this moment. If this was someone else he probably could've happily left them behind but seeing her poor, thin, weak-looking frame being hammered into the floor like that made something lurch in his chest. He felt sick, and as he knelt by her side, he was quick to check for any head injuries that she may have received from the Charger's attack.

There was a bump on the back of her head that didn't feel particularly good, but thankfully, there was no blood. The condition of the rest of her, however, remained to be seen. Scooping the redhead into his arms, Nick got to his feet, turning to meet Rochelle who looked somewhat pale and panicked.

"Oh, God!" She cried, "Is she...?"

"She's just knocked out." Nick said, his face also pale, "I can't believe she just did that..."

"The bridge is down, Nick, we have to go!" Ellis yelled, waving frantically at them.

Rochelle covered Nick as he ran with Julia held to his chest, trying to keep her as steady as possible. At the very least, he tried to keep her still so as not to make any injuries worse than they already were. The bridge was indeed down, and the car was in their sights. Making a protective wall as best they could around Nick, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis shot at the horde approaching them from the area where the other three survivors were, and as they reached the car, Rochelle started to pile the bags into the trunk while Coach and Ellis helped Nick into the backseat with Julia, who he kept a tight hold of. He normally would've passed her off to someone else, but there wasn't time for that.

"Come on, Ro! Let's go!" Ellis was calling, and as he ushered Rochelle into the back, the producer took Julia's legs and set them across her own, holding them tightly.

Ellis and Coach then climbed into the front seats and the young mechanic started the car, the force of it moving away from its current position causing Rochelle and Nick to tighten their hold on Julia. This seemed to bring her out of her unconscious state for a brief moment, clearly worsening her pain as she groaned quietly and pitifully in Nick's arms.

"You're okay, Jules. Talk about taking one for the team, huh?"

Nick's words were the result of him not really knowing how to comfort the young woman. She didn't seem to notice what he'd actually said to her as she collapsed back against his shoulder into unconsciousness again. She must've been in a lot of pain, he realised, seeing how her small, dainty hands were balled into fists.

The sounds of everyone else shouting a speedy goodbye went unnoticed by Nick as he studied the pale hands of the young woman in his arms, the fingers of them tightening into a fist and then relaxing a little again of their own accord. She actually wasn't that terrible to hold onto, he supposed. She was light, and even though she was petite, she certainly wasn't bony or anything like that, so he wasn't uncomfortable with her weight against him. He dipped his head to try and get a look at her face but instead caught the scent of her copper hair, the curls now damp and frizzy while somehow, despite their trip through the sewers, retained a hint of the fruity shampoo that she must've only used a couple of days before.

"Nick?" Rochelle asked softly, catching the conman's gaze, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Nick replied darkly, wincing as the car hit a small group of infected which caused it to bounce and rock uncomfortably.

His arms quickly tightened around Julia, earning him a long groan of pain in response, causing the conman to angrily glare at Ellis, who appeared to be enjoying mowing the zombies down.

"Be careful, Ellis!" He snapped angrily, "Jesus Christ!"

"Oh, oh..." Ellis looked back at Nick briefly with guilt on his face, "Shit, I'm sorry... Is she doin' okay back there?"

"What do you think?" Nick snapped again, looking out of the window, "We need to find a place to stop to check on her."

Rochelle was watching interestedly, trying to figure out why Nick was so angry. Was he angry that Julia had done something like that and gotten herself injured to save him? Was he upset that she'd done that and was he now feeling guilty because of it? Was he just plain pissed off in general with the whole situation? Or... Did Nick actually care about somebody other than himself? She didn't really know, nor did she want to focus too much on that. She just wanted to get Julia looked over and to help her recover.

Settling back into their seats, the group tried to get comfortable for their journey, and all of them wanted to find a safe house as soon as possible to tend to their injured friend.

~ To Be Continued ~

Thanks so much for reading, guys!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!