Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or its characters. I only own my OCs.
A/N: Hello! I hope you guys are enjoying this so far! Here we are at chapter thirteen, and I've made a small start on chapter twenty. I'll try to make sure to keep working on this as much as I can so I don't fall behind with updates. I'd like to say a special thanks to macblur for favouriting and following the story!
UnspokenTheWriter: Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much! I was so worried that people hated this story because no-one seemed to be reviewing. I hope you continue to enjoy it and thanks for taking the time to read it all the way through, favourite, follow and review.
~ Not So Forsaken ~
- Chapter Thirteen -
The sign at the entrance to 'Kiddieland' stood out very clearly to the group of five as they passed by the fallen bodies of the zombies they'd just killed.
Ellis seemed to be very excited about the fact that they'd found a selection of rides, and really wanted to go on one but Coach said no. The distant and eerie cries of the Witch that had decided to make her presence known all of a sudden were all the more reason to move through 'Kiddieland' as quickly and quietly as possible. Walking down the pathway towards the rides, the five of them were all on edge, each of them trying to locate the biggest threat in the area, which Rochelle caught sight of sitting next to a chainlink fence to their right, right near the wall that separated this part of the area from a large slide that loomed above 'Kiddieland' almost villainously. The Witch was well out of their way, but they still didn't want to take any chances with her.
"Come on." Coach whispered, "Let's figure out the best way to go."
There were twenty to thirty infected wandering around the area, who were slowly starting to notice the group's presence as they passed through. They tried to be sparing with their ammo, leaving Ellis and Rochelle to use their fire axe and machete to take out some zombies while the others alternated between their side arms and main weapons. Spotting a safehouse marker on a nearby wall, the survivors had a moment where they felt relief and joy at potentially reaching shelter, but that relief was very quickly crushed by the sound of squeaking, pounding feet, snarls, growls and screams.
Turning to look behind them, Rochelle and Julia raised their weapons, their eyes widening in horror at the sight of infected pouring towards them with clowns dotted all the way through the massive crowd. Opening fire, their focus was to try and take out the clowns, but it was soon evident that they were about to be seriously overwhelmed. Unbeknownst to the others, Nick had lit the pipe bomb he picked up earlier, and he launched it back towards where they'd come from to get rid of the horde.
"Chase this, you zombie bastards!" He yelled, laughing triumphantly as the zombies turned on their heels and ran towards the beeping missile, which bounced along the ground, being surrounded within seconds.
As it exploded, the area fell quiet apart from the cries of the Witch, and the heavy breathing of the survivors, who were recovering from the sudden panic of being bombarded with zombies and who were feeling very relieved that the Witch to their right was still undisturbed. Finally, they began to move, deciding to check a building next to them that may have more supplies, even maybe something to drink since they were starting to get a little hungry and thirsty.
"Nick, you stay with Jules." Coach said, giving the younger man a warning glare, "We're gonna look for supplies."
Before Nick could protest, the other three had disappeared, leaving him alone with the young redhead, who was looking anywhere but at him. His gaze settled on the Witch ahead of them, who was still rocking and crying where she sat before he looked back at Julia, who was staring at the Witch with what could only be described as pity on her face. He wondered what she was thinking. He wondered if he was on her thoughts at all. That look they'd shared after the encounter with the Tank had sent his heart into overdrive. She'd been gazing at him with an almost unreadable expression and while he assumed it was actually her version of resting-bitch-face, part of him had wondered if she was looking at him the way he'd started to look at her.
"Nick?"
Her voice caught him off guard. She wasn't looking at him, but she'd spoken to him all the same. He could see the flicker of fear on her face as she took in a sharp breath, her eyes determined to be pointing in any direction but his. Nick felt somewhat satisfied that she'd been the one to break their silence first, and he pretty much knew that she was about to apologise to him, but it didn't make the moment any easier to bear. He had this horrible vision of her trying to apologise to that son of a bitch who had the audacity to call himself her boyfriend while he relentlessly beat her for whatever she'd done that he'd deemed worthy of punishment. It made him feel sick.
She never got to finish what she'd intended to say to him, because Coach and the others returned with bottles of water, celebrating their find. Ellis handed Nick a bottle, unsure of what to say to him, while Rochelle handed a bottle to Julia, who took a quick drink, her face pale and her expression blank, almost like she wasn't with them.
In truth, she wasn't fully with them. Her mind was where Nick's had been. She was remembering all those times she'd begged for mercy from Kevin, apologising over and over again while he beat her, telling her what a worthless bitch she was and how it was impossible to love her. His words to her were always so cruel, and as the months rolled by, Julia had begun to believe them. Maybe she was impossible to love. Maybe that was why she'd been abandoned back at that hotel, and maybe...
"Jules? Honey?" Coach's voice dragged her back to reality, and she was met with four pairs of eyes on her, the Witch's mournful sobs returning to her ears, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She nodded, offering them a forced smile before stuffing the bottle of water hastily into her bag, "I'm coming."
What she didn't expect to see when she looked up from zipping her bag back up was Nick waiting for her while the others headed around the next corner. Her heart stopped beating for a moment as she stared at him, wondering why he'd waited for her. He knew she was unnerved by this, and as he had been a few moments before when she'd spoken first, he felt a little satisfied. She'd hurt him and he wanted her to be uncomfortable, even if only for a little while.
"Come on." He said gruffly, "We'd hate for you to fall behind."
Surprisingly, she didn't hear sarcasm in his voice at that moment. He seemed sincere and the look in his eyes didn't seem quite as angry as it had earlier. Cautiously, she stepped towards him and then past him, quickening her pace so they didn't lose the others. Nick watched her walking ahead, his gaze trailing a little further south to admire the rather cute little backside that she had, as well as the way her hips swayed in an elegant and feminine fashion as she walked. It wasn't until he caught sight of the others that he lifted his head, while Coach eyed him suspiciously from his place by an open warehouse shutter.
"You guys okay?" He asked them, earning a shy nod from Julia and a smirk from Nick.
"Oh, we're fine. How about you guys?"
Narrowing his eyes, Coach moved on into the building opposite, and Julia hastily followed him as though she couldn't wait to be away from Nick. Trying to hide the small twinge of irritation and embarrassment that this action caused, Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head, moving instead to look around the nearby area at what other supplies they could find. Another safe house marker sat on a nearby wall with an arrow pointing to ahead of them, and like the rest of them had already worked out, Nick surmised that the way around would be long and arduous rather than nice and straight-forward.
Inside the warehouse, Coach and Julia were picking up some more flashlight batteries and Julia helped herself to a baseball bat, which she knew would come in handy if she was running low on ammo. Coach watched her warily, able to see the pain and tiredness in her eyes even in the dark space.
"You doin' okay, young 'un?" He asked her, "I know you and Nick exchanged some heated words..."
"I'm okay. I just feel a little bad, I guess." Julia admitted, rubbing the back of her neck in a clear display of discomfort, "I tried to apologise back there but I just... I couldn't get the words out, y'know? I was such a bitch, and he was trying to apologise..."
"Listen, sweetheart," Coach said gently, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Don't be so hard on yourself, alright? Nick's been pushin' an awful lotta buttons lately. After what you've been goin' through, childish fightin' between two grown-ass men ain't what ya ought to be exposed to."
"I'm sorry." She muttered, "Our focus should be on getting out of here in one piece... Not silly stuff like this."
Coach squeezed her shoulder once more as she zipped up her bag, and the tender, fatherly action caused her to look up into the older man's kind eyes, his mouth curving into a rather sad smile. She felt much more comfortable around him now than she had when they first met, and she knew that she could trust him and rely on him, probably for pretty much anything she needed.
"Honey... We're human beings." He said softly, "We don't stop feelin' shit just 'cause the world's come to an end. Alright?"
Taking his words as a positive sign, Julia nodded, letting out a big sigh of relief and ran her hands tiredly over her face. Coach bit his lip and decided to test the water to offer the young woman a moment of quiet and moment of calm. He carefully moved his arm around her small form and pulled her closer to him as an invitation for a hug. To his astonishment, her hands remained over her face but she stepped closer, leaning her head against the taller man's chest which then allowed him to wrap his other arm around her. The hug wasn't unwelcome to her, but in fact, it was needed, and she felt protected and cared for, which made a very nice change.
"I'm sorry." She murmured again, "I'm so tired."
"Hell, we're all tired, baby girl. We're all tired." He comforted her quietly, "Take a nice deep breath. Gather your nerve again."
She did just that. She took another deep breath, swallowed hard, and picked her rifle back up, giving Coach a much freer and more natural grin as he released her. She patted him on the back in thanks, and the two headed back to join the others, who seemed surprised at her sudden refreshed appearance. She then took the lead, with Ellis right by her side as they headed towards the building that the safe house marker was directing them to.
"You give her a pep talk or something?" Rochelle asked Coach quietly, "She seems much better."
"I think she just needed a moment of peace and quiet. Things have been pretty tense lately what with these little arguments goin' on and such." Coach knew Nick could hear him, but he didn't care, "Anyway, she's back on form now."
"We got ammo in here!" Ellis called to them, waving them towards the room, "And lots of pills."
Julia carefully handed the ammo out to people, leaving only a few stray bullets on the table as she slipped a few magazines for her M16 into her jacket pockets before heading up to the roof with Rochelle, both of them making quick work of climbing the ladder to get outside. Ellis handed Nick a bottle of pills, giving him a small smile in an attempt to ease some of the tension between them. Nick smirked and then patted him on the back, and that was just enough to reassure Ellis that the conman was trying to make more of an effort. Whether that was for Julia's sake or just the sake of the group wasn't actually that important to Ellis. The very fact that he was trying was enough.
"Guys? Are you actually coming with us or...?" Rochelle's head appeared through the hatch in the ceiling, her hands gripping the ladder in front of her so that she didn't fall back through.
"We're comin'!" Ellis called, bounding up the steps towards the ladder to follow the ladies up to the roof.
Coach gave Nick an approving smile and the pair headed after Ellis, hearing the sounds of gunfire echoing across the open space as Rochelle, Julia and Ellis crossed the roof, clearing the way with their different weapons. After climbing up more stairs, they found themselves at the top of a large, brightly coloured slide with multiple lanes so that several people could use it at once, which Ellis was determined to use to get to ground level rather than having to use the stairs.
"Come on! Can I? Please!" Ellis begged, clasping his hands together, "It's not like it's a real ride with lights and sounds!"
Everyone else gave the young man an amused look, crossing their arms while sharing looks with each other to see who'd cave in first. Rochelle and Coach gave Ellis the okay, and he couldn't help but jump around on the spot with excitement at the chance to actually experience a ride, even if it was just a huge slide with bumps in it.
"I'll go with you." Julia offered with a smile, looking to the others, "We'll race you to the bottom."
The pair handed the others their weapons and their bags so that they could use the slide more comfortably, and as Rochelle, Coach and Nick took a steady walk down the stairs, Ellis sat on the slide, and took Julia's hand, allowing her to sit between his legs. It was a tight fit, but Julia felt comfortable, and as Ellis' deceptively strong arms wrapped around her midsection, he started to push them towards the first dip. The sound of giggles and whoops of joy filled the ears of Nick, Coach and Rochelle as Ellis and Julia slid past, youthful joy present on both their faces as they laughed the whole way down the slide until they collapsed at the bottom in a graceless heap.
"It's fun having a day out with the kids, ain't it?" Nick joked, earning a small laugh from Rochelle.
"It's good to see them smiling though, right?" She asked, nudging him playfully as they continued down the stairs.
At the bottom of the slide, however, the laughing and smiling quickly subsided. Julia and Ellis were now sat deathly still, looking to the left of the slide where the Witch that they'd avoided earlier was sitting, now staring at them, unmoving and unblinking from the other side of the chainlink fence. They were expecting a growl or some kind of warning that she was going to attack like they'd encountered back in Savannah, but there was nothing... Just stillness and silence. And it was frightening.
"What do we do?" Julia asked in a whisper, beginning to tremble as Ellis tightened his hold around her middle.
"Just stay still..." Ellis whispered back, "Why ain't she growlin'?"
"Oh, God... I don't know..." Julia bit her lip, sure that the Witch would be able to hear her thundering pulse and racing heart.
On the stairs, Coach watched as Ellis and Julia got to their feet very slowly, their eyes still fixed on the spot to their left. He knew something was wrong, as did Rochelle and Nick. Then, it occurred to them that both their youngest team members were moving to avoid the Witch they'd encountered earlier when they realised they couldn't hear her cries anymore.
When the Witch finally started to growl, Ellis and Julia felt some kind of relief since this behaviour seemed normal for a Witch, but they quickly backed away from her regardless since they didn't want to set her off any more than she was already. They soon passed Rochelle, Nick and Coach as they got to the bottom of the steps, worried that the Witch's growling was going to intensify and she might attack. They beckoned their three friends to follow quickly, and the group hurried out of the growling Witch's line of sight, leaving Ellis and Julia with the opportunity to explain what had just happened.
"We got to the bottom of the slide, and she was just staring at us..." Julia said, clearly quite shaken as she was handed her bag and weapons back, "She wasn't growling or crying or anything. She was just staring. It was so creepy."
"We decided to just back up before we ended up with an angry Witch on our asses." Ellis murmured, turning back to look at Julia who was rubbing her arms in a self-soothing manner, "But, hey, at least the slide was fun, right?"
Julia grinned at him broadly, nudging his arm playfully.
"Yes, Ellis. The slide was fun." She replied warmly, laughing as he pulled her briefly into a one-armed hug.
"Alright, y'all. Let's get movin'." Coach said with a kind smile, "Come on."
The five of them headed up another stairway to the left of where they were standing and checked out a room at the top of that flight of stairs only to find another good selection of ammo and some more medical supplies, which were passed around between them. Once they arrived in another area full of rides, it was apparent that their way forward was blocked, and the only way through was to quickly fire up one of the rides to open the gate leading through to the next area, where hopefully a safe room was. All the markers had been pointing in this direction, and everyone was already so tired that they couldn't wait to get barricaded into a room where they could rest for a few hours before picking up again.
"Nice fencing." Nick commented as they arrived at the carousel that was blocking their way, "Looks like a federal carousel penitentiary."
Julia snorted with a laugh, earning a surprised look from Nick which was then replaced with a smirk. He felt some satisfaction at the thought of being able to make her laugh, even when she was supposedly mad at him. He placed his hand on the switch nearby, turning back to the other four survivors with an arched eyebrow.
"Before I hit this switch, what's the plan?"
"I'll head through first." Rochelle offered.
"I'll cover you." Julia nodded at the older woman, smiling as she readied her rifle.
"This thing's gonna be loud." Coach muttered, "No dilly-dallyin'. As soon as this gate opens we need to get through this passageway so that Ro and Jules can shut down the ride again."
"Alright." Nick said quietly, his fingers curling around the switch, "Ready?"
Rochelle and Julia nodded, both taking deep breaths as Nick pulled the switch, bringing the ride to life. It took a few seconds for the sound to travel, but it hit the zombies soon enough, and with the scream of the horde, the gate had opened wide enough for Rochelle and Julia's small frames to squeeze through. They were out of sight before the men had set off after them. Nick and Ellis were shooting at oncoming infected while Coach attacked those running after them from the back, and the sounds of Rochelle's AK-47 and Julia's M-16 suddenly hit their ears, followed by yells from none other than the redhead.
"Behind you, Ro!" She was shouting, "Boomer!"
Nick and Ellis rounded the corner just in time to see both women harshly shove a large male Boomer out of the way before Rochelle shot it with her AK-47, both of them ducking out of the way of the explosion. The hungry growls, cries, screams and the pounding of feet of the infected were so loud that they could barely hear the ride now, and as Julia finally got the ride turned off, she was suddenly mobbed by infected climbing over the actual ride to get to her.
"Hang on, Jules!" Ellis cried out, "I'm comin'!"
He was suddenly taking out infected left, right and centre with his fire axe to get to the young woman, who was also trying to hit oncoming zombies with her baseball bat in an attempt to free herself. The sound of squeaking could be heard nearby along with curses from Nick who took out the oncoming clowns as quickly as possible as they sped towards the group of five from the direction of the Tunnel of Love.
"What in the name of fuck is with the zombie clown posse?!" The conman yelled.
"Just kill them, for God's sake!" Rochelle yelled back at him, "Take them out!"
The fight continued for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was only a matter of maybe ten minutes. The quiet that followed the onslaught seemed deafening, but just as the group was approaching the safe house inside the Tunnel of Love, they were attacked once again. A Charger emerged from the safe room, grabbing Coach and dragging him to the other side of the queue line before pounding him into the ground with incredible force, causing him to cry out in pain. It was at this same moment that Nick was caught by a Smoker, who was stood on a nearby building and making quick work of dragging in him away. Caught in a panic, the remaining three teammates looked at each other in horror.
"You guys get Coach!" Julia ordered, her eyes wide with terror, "I'll get Nick! Go!"
Julia quickly turned on her heel and ran towards Nick, who was now hanging in the air, his torso being painfully squeezed by the Smoker as he struggled in its hold. Aiming her gun, Julia waited until the beam was in the Smoker's face before opening fire, hearing it choke out a rasping, dying breath before it finally released Nick, who fell to the floor, gagging and gasping for air.
"Nick..." She breathed out, all her previous anger for him fading as the relief that he was safe took over, "Are you hurt?"
She moved to help him to his feet, hearing him coughing and trying to get the air back into his lungs. As he got to his feet, he looked at her with an expression of both relief and confusion, and she was looking at him with concern mixed with the relief that he wasn't hurt. It didn't take them too long, unfortunately, to be distracted by a familiar and very unwelcome growling coming from behind them. Turning slowly, the pair found themselves face to face with not one, but three Hunters, who were crawling towards them slowly in an almost taunting manner. They'd never seen this many at once before and frankly, it was more than a little unsettling. Had the Hunters been following them this whole time? With the horde they'd just fought, it was possible that the Hunters could've been prowling somewhere nearby.
Without thinking, Nick grabbed Julia's arm and pulled her behind him, getting her straight out of the way of the oncoming predators. Her heart was hammering in her chest, not just because of the threat that was upon them, but because Nick's instinct had been to protect her and move her out of the way. He hadn't even realised it, but that was clearly the case and the realisation gave Julia a brief moment of relief that perhaps he wasn't too angry with her anymore either.
"What do we do?" She asked him anxiously, raising her M16, "We shoot one each and that leaves a third to attack us..."
"I dunno, just give me a second to think..." Nick murmured, his eyes wide and his grip on his sniper rifle tighter than Julia had ever seen it.
For the first time in a long time, Nick was scared. He wasn't only scared for himself but for Julia too. She'd gotten caught in the middle of this situation because she'd run to save his worthless ass for the second time since they met, and Nick knew she didn't deserve to be where she was now. He put his body in front of hers because he owed it to her. Twice now, she'd put herself in danger for him and he knew he couldn't just let her take another hit on his behalf.
Gunshots rang out suddenly, startling the cornered survivors who were suddenly overwhelmed with relief as Rochelle, Ellis and Coach arrived to kill the imminent threat. The reality of how close the two had just come to death, and the realisation that Nick was so willing to put himself in harm's way to protect her became too overpowering for Julia, who felt a lump of emotion sitting itself in her throat as she heard the last Hunter yelp, dropping dead to the floor.
Her hand moved to her abdomen due to the nausea that suddenly caught her off guard, her chest heaved as she struggled to get her breath for a second, and her head turned away from her fellow survivors as she drew her full lips into a tight line to try and stop the sob that was threatening to leave her throat. She hated crying in front of people, and she hated looking weak, but she felt so emotional that she just couldn't help it.
"Are you guys okay?" Rochelle asked, panicked.
"I think so..." Nick said, his face still wearing an expression of shock, "Thanks, guys. That was way too close, wasn't it, Jules?"
The hitched breath he got in response caused him to turn his head towards the redhead, who was now shaking almost uncontrollably. She really hated Hunters, and after what she'd seen back at the hotel in Savannah, she'd found herself becoming incredibly frightened of them. They scared her more than Tanks and Witches, and those two zombies were scary enough on their own. But Hunters? They were smart, cunning, calculated, strong as hell, and completely unrelenting. To be caught by one... The thought alone was hideous enough.
"Julia?"
Nick didn't really know what to do when he realised that Julia was crying. Comforting a crying woman had never been his strength, but thankfully for him, he didn't need to worry too much about it as Rochelle stepped forward and carefully eased Julia away from him and towards the Tunnel of Love where the safe room was open and waiting, murmuring words of comfort to her and gently shushing her as they went. Nick followed at the back of the group with Ellis, watching helplessly as Coach guided the tearful redhead over the queue's railings to get to the safe room.
"Nick?" Ellis' voice was deep and soft as he leant towards the older man, "Don't be mad at her no more. She's goin' through enough."
"I'm not mad at her, El." Nick said quietly, "It's okay."
Ellis gave him a warm smile and patted him on the arm, and as the two hopped over the railings to get to the safe room, they found themselves feeling rather inadequate and lost as Rochelle comforted Julia, who was trying to calm herself down while taking a large drink of water from the bottle she'd been given earlier.
Even while helping Coach barricade the door, all Nick could do was think about what he was going to say to Julia when they had a moment to themselves, and as they put the last piece of their makeshift barricade in place, he came to the conclusion that all he could do to make amends was to explain why he was as cold as she believed him to be. He knew that the task wasn't going to be easy, but he didn't care.
Maybe it was finally time to let some of his oldest skeletons out of the closet...
~ To Be Continued ~
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, everyone!
Thanks very much for reading this so far!