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

A/N: Hi, guys! I'm back with chapter twenty-eight! I hope you enjoy it!

Shin Maxwell: Normally, I'm really good at avoiding setting off alarmed cars, although when I was really tired once I actually jumped on one like a total moron. Usually, it's an NPC that sets them off, at which point they get cursed at for their stupidity. I'm so pleased that you find Nick and Julia cute as a couple. Imagine Nick's face if he heard that! :P

~ Not So Forsaken ~

- Chapter Twenty-Eight -

The sound of shuffling against the ground caught the attention of Julia and Rochelle, who had to suddenly grab a hold of Ellis as he almost stumbled into a nearby alarmed car.

The walk through the maze of alarmed vehicles had been going quite well until Ellis had tripped over a rock, and now he was balanced precariously while Rochelle and Julia desperately tried to keep him upright. About ten feet ahead, Nick and Coach were watching worriedly, with Nick almost moving to help the girls get Ellis back om a steady footing. He was getting so sick and tired of Ellis' clumsiness because it always seemed to cause problems, such as Julia ending up hurt because Ellis had fallen down that embankment by the motel on the way to Whispering Oaks. It needed curbing before it got them all killed, and the anger and fear that he was feeling because of the danger that Ellis' clumsiness could cause, he couldn't help but get angry with the younger man.

"For fuck's sake, Ellis!" He snapped angrily, "Watch where you're walking!"

"Hey, cut it out." Rochelle snapped back, "He tripped, Nick. It wasn't his fault."

"Dumbass is gonna get us all killed. All it's gonna take is him touching a car and we're fucked." Nick growled, shooting at a zombie that came running at them from the direction of a thankfully unalarmed car, "We can't waste the ammo on a horde."

"Alright, take it easy." Julia said quietly, "Let's keep going."

With that, the group continued to move carefully through the parked cars, taking out infected as they went wherever it was safe to do so. Any shot that appeared to be the slightest bit risky wouldn't be taken, which the left the odd zombie wandering around the area. Soon, they managed to reach the other side of the car maze silently, where they actually found themselves at the bottom of a ladder, which led them to a metal staircase. The climb up the staircase was quick but tiring, and everyone was relieved to see the top of it approaching when they started to get out of breath. As they reached the top of said staircase, however, they heard the horrid sound of a car alarm suddenly blaring quite loudly below them.

"One of them zombies just walked into a car..." Ellis said worriedly, looking down at the vehicles they'd just passed, "We gotta go..."

Without another word, the group headed up onto the freeway they'd been following for all this time, trying to ignore the sounds of pounding feet, angry yells and growling as infected started to emerge from different directions, including the way they'd just come from, which led to some of them climbing on or running into the other parked cars. Now a chorus of alarms screamed below them, and that was all it took for the five survivors to start running. They raced towards the end of the freeway, only to find themselves face to face with the blocked road ahead. Cursing, the group looked around for a way down, only to spot the left side of the road which had actually partially collapsed, leaving them with a considerable drop to debris covered embankment below. As the horde that was being attracted by the car alarms was now racing onto the freeway with them, approaching at an alarming speed, the group knew that it was now or never. They had to move.

"Go!" Coach ordered, "Save the ammo, damn it!"

Coach grabbed Rochelle's hand and leapt off of the bridge with her, both of them landing harshly on the hill below. Ellis jumped next, leaving Nick and Julia on the freeway above them, looking at the drop below. Both of them were suddenly taken back to the sewer in Rayford where they jumped into the water together because Nick hadn't wanted to jump by himself. They both found themselves smiling fondly at the memory, however brief it was. Clasping Julia's hand in his own, Nick looked at her with a small smile, trying to reassure her since she was obviously terrified of the long drop next to them.

"Ready?" He asked her, feeling her grip on his hand tighten with unbelievable force.

"Come on, guys!" Ellis cried from below, looking up at them with a grimace.

"One..." Nick began, gripping her hand in return, "Two... Three..."

They both jumped together, their hands still clasped together in that strong, almost loving hold as they then hit the debris pile with hard thuds. The second they were on their feet, all five of them started to sprint, and Nick didn't let go of Julia's hand until they were at the bottom of the hill. They looked desperately for the direction they needed to move in, unable to ignore the sights and sounds of the approaching horde as they could be seen barrelling across the freeway towards them.

"Into the cemetery!" Coach yelled.

"Oh, great! More dead people!" Nick called back, looking over his shoulder, "For fuck's sake, go!"

They weaved in and out of the rows of graves, desperate to leave those angry, ravenous zombies behind them. All of a sudden, however, they were brought to a sudden, skidding halt. A Witch was wandering around between the graves, blocking their path as she moved slowly between the rows of tombstones, crying into her long, clawed hands. They had to be careful now. One wrong move and they'd be screwed, and they all knew it. She came to a stop next to one particularly loud headstone, her sobs continuing to increase in volume with every passing second.

"Just run past her." Coach gasped out, panting for breath, "There's a damn safehouse marker there. We gotta be close to one."

"You sure you wanna run past her?" Ellis asked, also gasping for breath.

Turning around as the sounds of angry infected filled their ears, Julia and Rochelle watched in horror as the horde was now starting to climb over the fencing of the cemetery and some zombies were already hurtling towards them through the rows of graves. Thye had no damn choice now. They were going to have to sprint past her, and the thought made everyone feel anxious and sick.

"Go!" Julia hissed, panicked, "Single file! Go!"

One by one, the group ran past the Witch, leaving her growling to herself as she watched them go. The thundering horde that was chasing them would no doubt startle her, so time was now most certainly of the essence to get out of the way before she flipped out. Thankfully, it only took them a couple of seconds to find the saferoom in question, which was what appeared to be the lobby of some apartment building, and as the Witch's scream filled their ears, along with the hideous cries and the angry yells of the horde, they all raced to get the door closed and barricaded. As soon as that task was done, Julia was in Nick's arms, hugging him tightly with relief that they'd just made it out of that situation unscathed.

Nick's focus, however, wasn't actually on her for the time being. It was on the writing on the wall behind her. 'Thanks for nothing, CEDA!', 'Carriers = Zombies', 'Kill all carriers'... Carriers... Were they people who had the disease already but didn't succumb to the symptoms? And if so, were they responsible for infecting everyone else? What if he, Rochelle, Ellis, Coach and Julia were all carriers? What if that was the reason that their chopper pilot had turned on the way to New Orleans? Surely Virgil would've turned too if that was the case... Unless he was a carrier too...

"We might be in trouble here." The conman said quietly, turning Julia around to show her the wall.

"Carriers?" Ellis asked, his brow knotted with worry, "Ain't that like people who spread the disease around but don't actually get sick from it?"

"Not quite... If you're a carrier, you already have the actual disease, so you're already sick... You just don't experience its symptoms, but yes, you do spread it." Julia replied, a lump forming in her throat, "What if...? What if that's us? Are CEDA and the military gonna kill us, if...?"

"Don't talk like that, young 'un." Coach said gently, "We don't know nothin' yet..."

"We can't just not go to CEDA." Rochelle added with a look of worry on her face, "If they try and kill us, we..."

"We what?" Nick asked with an arched eyebrow, interrupting the producer harshly, "They'll take everything we have from us when we get to them. We'll have nothing to defend ourselves with."

"Well, wait just one minute..." Ellis said, his brow now furrowed in thought, "If carriers spread the disease but don't suffer no symptoms, carriers is all that's gonna be left in the end. We can't infect each other, right?"

"Boy, that's probably the most sensible thing I've heard ya say since we met." Coach said with a grin, "We ain't infected. If we are carriers, that means we haven't infected each other. So, Ellis' logic works... Carriers ain't gonna make each other sick."

"Okay..." Julia breathed out, pressing up against Nick with a worried grimace plastered on her pretty features, "Then we need to keep going."

"Let's get ready to move out, folks." Coach said, turning to Nick who was still reading the scrawlings on the safe room wall, "It'll be okay, Nick. I'm sure of it."

'Yeah...' Nick thought bitterly, 'Trust the village idiot's logic. We're so screwed...'

"Nick? Baby, we have to go..."

Julia's sweet, but frightened voice brought Nick out of his thoughts, and as he looked at his girlfriend, he knew she needed his reassurance and his strength. It was probably the first time he'd actually thought like that since his teenage years when he used to protect his mother and sister. So, placing a hand gently on her back and guiding her forward, Nick and Julia headed out of the safe room after the others, both of them now seriously fearing that they might not make it out of this after all. All that hard work, tears, toil and effort will have been for nothing...

Heading out into a small backstreet area, the group passed the large fountain in the centre of it, taking out infected as they went. They ventured into what turned out to be a store, and upon finding no way out, they climbed a set of stairs to get to the upper floor, which then led them onto a balcony above another street. The drop to the ground didn't look too appealing, but when Ellis pointed out that they could jump across to the next building and use a parked van to get to ground level, the five survivors decided to go for it. Ellis went first, followed by Rochelle, who stumbled awkwardly as she landed. They thought for a moment that she might have twisted her ankle or something, but thankfully, she was okay. Coach followed after, beckoning Julia across who almost collided with the older man as she landed on the next balcony.

Encouraging her to climb down, Coach then waited for Nick, who did the cleanest jump out of all of them, and then ensured that Coach could climb to ground level first. Just as Nick was about to follow, he spotted a luminous green trail ahead of them, and after quickly realising what was actually approaching them, he took aim with his rifle to kill the threat before it could do any damage.

"Spitter!" He yelled, opening fire on the approaching female zombie as she weaved from side to side, the acid spilling from her mouth and onto the ground.

Luckily, Ellis got a killer shot in there before she could spit at them, and as he and the girls started to clear out the zombies at street level, Nick and Coach followed, reloading their weapons. Upon reaching the end of this street, they found that it was blocked off by a bus, so, they took a right and headed into another building. It transpired that it was a pool hall and jazz club, which had a fair few zombies inside. Thinking of how only weeks ago this place would've been bustling with people who were drinking, playing pool, dancing and happily listening to music with their friends, the group fell into solemn silence. Now, it was just another hellish, empty, shell of a building with infected people inside who were as good as dead.

They took absolutely no pleasure as they moved through the lower floor of that building in shooting the infected as they ran at them. It suddenly seemed to be much more difficult to do. Before, there had been no time to think of things like this, and while there certainly wasn't now, the purpose of the building had been enough to draw that thought into everyone's heads, and each of them was now dealing with their own personal difficulties when it came to killing the zombies who came running at them. After moving through the rooms, the group came across a staircase, and with nowhere else to go, they headed up there quickly, knowing that they were running out of time to get to safety.

Ellis was at the front of the group, moving up the stairs with his shotgun aimed in front of him. As he looked over his shoulder to check that the others were behind him, he didn't see or hear the Hunter emerging onto the corridor that he was facing, and slowly, the creature started to crawl towards him silently, ready to pounce. The second that Ellis turned his head, the Hunter was off its feet, leaping through the air so fast that Ellis didn't have time to register what was happening and wham! The mechanic was down, the Hunter pinning him to the ground by straddling his chest before frantically trying to tear him to shreds, causing Ellis to let out a startled shout of horror and terror. Thankfully, his friends were close by, and just as he felt the Hunter's claws dig into his left arm, he saw flashes of black, grey and blue flying towards him, relief flooding his system at the knowledge that someone was there to save him.

Rochelle and Julia sprang straight into action, hitting the Hunter off of their friend with their guns. As it tried to flee, they both opened fire on it, walking towards it with angry, snarling expressions on their faces as they tried to avenge their now injured friends, and within seconds, it fell dead with a pained yelp. The girls taking care of the Hunter left Nick and Coach to get Ellis on his feet again, who was both shaken and pale from the ordeal. His arm was scratched and bleeding badly, so Coach rummaged through his bag to look for his first aid supplies to clean and bandage the wound. Within a few moments, Ellis was bandaged up, but his arm was causing him a lot of pain. The group could only hope that they weren't too far away from that damn bridge.

Upon reaching the edge of the railing of the upstairs hallway, it was apparent that the only way down was to jump. Nick offered to go first but decided to try and ease himself down to the ground level, which worked better than actually jumping. When he'd landed safely, the others quickly followed him, but Ellis, who had difficulty due to his already injured arm, fell the last couple of feet, stumbling awkwardly only to be steadied by the girls.

"Are you gonna be able to carry your weapon, El?" Julia asked worriedly.

"I'll be just fine and dandy, Jules." Ellis said with a grimace, "Don't ya worry about me none..."

"Let's keep going then." Nick said, letting out a deep breath, "Ellis, if you're struggling and you need to stop using your gun, you need to tell us so we can cover you, 'kay?"

"Okay..." Ellis said, biting his lip with worry plastered across his face.

Nick patted his uninjured arm reassuringly, and with the others, they headed out of the large shuttered door ahead of them. They came to yet another alleyway, which they quickly navigated to try and find a way out of the area. Spotting an entrance to yet another building, the group of five made their way inside carefully, taking out the infected lingering inside before proceeding to the upper floors where they were relieved to find a nice, big pile of ammo.

"We'd better stock up, y'all." Coach said with a sigh, "God knows, I think we're gonna need as much of this as we can take."

As everyone grabbed whatever ammo they could, Nick took a look out of the open doorway that they were standing next to. There were zombies everywhere below them. There was barely a patch of ground to be seen and the infected now seemed more intimidating than ever so no-one was exactly keen on disturbing them. Swallowing hard, Nick stepped out onto the balcony ahead, not surprised to find Julia faithfully following behind him, reloading her rifle. He heard her let out a quiet but horrified gasp at the sight. Their way down would be difficult, everyone knew as much, and now that Ellis was injured, it only had the potential to make things worse. Now, they were in an enclosed space, with buildings all around them and fencing preventing them from getting out. The area below them was cluttered with smaller buildings and dumpsters, as well as planters full of foliage that some of the zombies were now wading through and trampling on.

"Nick..." His girlfriend's frightened voice brought the conman out of his thoughts.

Julia was scared. There were so many zombies down there that it seemed almost impossible to take them all out. There wasn't exactly anything they could use to distract them or separate them either. She was starting to experience unbelievable anxiety now. Her legs were physically shaking, her heart was hammering and she felt as though she could vomit. The sense of panic she was feeling was unreal. She felt a large, but surprisingly gentle hand on her left arm, followed by a long kiss that was placed on the top of her head in a tender fashion, clearly with the purpose of comforting and reassuring her which did actually help quell her fear, if only a little.

"We can get through this. We just have to improvise. Okay?" Nick said softly, squeezing her shoulder carefully.

"Okay." Julia nodded, swallowing hard as she looked at the zombies below them.

"I think I see a way across there..." Coach said, pointing to a building on the other side of the street, "Looks like a safe house marker."

"Is there any way to get across to that building?" Rochelle asked, moving to get a good look herself.

"No... It's too far to jump." Nick muttered angrily, "Fuck."

The screaming of a fighter jet overhead caused the group of five to startle, each of them wincing as it was soon followed by the sound of more explosions. They now felt more desperate than ever. They were running out of time and fast. Another jet passed by, and just over the fencing on the ground to their left, there was another explosion, so loud that Julia and Rochelle let out a terrified yelp while Julia suddenly grabbed Nick and semi-hid herself behind him.

"Shit!" Ellis exclaimed, his eyes wide with panic, "Oh, damn! We're runnin' outta time here, guys... What do we do?!"

"Don't panic!" Coach said, sounding panicked himself, "We ain't outta this yet, but it ain't over yet either. Get lookin' for a way across to that buildin'."

"We can get a better look from that roof." Nick said, pointing to the roof ahead of them, "Come on."

One by one, they leapt onto the roof, catching the attention of some of the infected below them. Thankfully, there was a way across to the other building, which was given to them by some kind of carnival float that was parked right between their building and the building they wanted to get to, and its platforms were just high enough for them to get across. Relief washed over all five of them at the sight.

"And here I was thinking we'd have to do some stupid, convoluted shit to get across here." Nick smirked, "I'll be damned. Fate's being nice to us for once."

"Let's go." Coach said, relief present in his voice and his face as he stepped forward, "We don't have time to be hangin' around here celebratin'."

Moving onto the scaffolding ahead, Nick went first, landing on the float which, of course, alerted the zombies below. Angrily, they started to growl, moving to climb onto the float and to try and get up the scaffolding where the others were now moving onto. Nick started to provide covering fire, sighing with relief as Julia and Ellis made it across first. Coach and Rochelle came after them, and all of them tried to get rid of some of the oncoming zombies as Nick then moved to climb into the other building. Ellis went next, followed by Julia and Rochelle, and then last but not least, Coach joined them, and with a few more infected taken out, the group proceeded into the building, trying to find a way out.

"Down here." Ellis breathed out as he reached the top of some stairs, grimacing in pain when he looked at his injured arm, "This stings like hell."

"I'll get you something." Julia offered, handing her rifle to Nick, "Hold this, please."

Nick grinned to himself, taking the rifle from her. Even in a time of panic and crisis, she retained her sweet nature and her good manners. She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a bottle of painkillers and handing them to Ellis, who swallowed them dry with great difficulty, coughing and wincing at the taste of them. He thanked her with a nod, and as Julia zipped up her bag, Nick handed her the rifle back, allowing the group to continue on their way.

They quickly moved into a back alley, finding themselves with only one way to go, which was into a building with blue siding, an open doorway and one lone zombie staggering around in view. Julia took it out with her Magnum, hitting the infected right in the side of its head, causing it to drop down and slump against the wall, leaving a trail of dark blood in its wake.

It turned out to be some kind of store, which had clearly been looted within an inch of its life in the early stages of the infection. The few zombies wandering inside were taken out very quickly, and the group wasted no time in getting back out onto the street, rushing to try and find their next safe room. Just as Julia and Nick got out onto the street, an explosion sounded to their right, causing the ground to shake and the building to their immediate right to break apart. Pieces of debris started to fall down towards them, and the five survivors, who had spent a few seconds staring in horror, raced out of the way of the falling building and tried to look for another route.

"They're bombing us now! For fuck's sake!" Nick cursed angrily, his heart lurching in his chest, "I don't even think going to these guys is gonna be a good idea. For all we know, they're gonna line us up and kill us."

"Feel free to set up home here, Nick." Coach said with a glare.

"Nick, please don't." Julia whispered, her big brown eyes wide and sparkling, "Please..."

Nick turned to look at her, his heart once again lurching uncomfortably as he saw how much colour her face had lost. She was so frightened. He could even see her trembling. He took a moment to pause and to brush a strand of her hair out of her face in an attempt to soothe her. He apologised to her softly, knowing his anger wasn't helpful to her at all, no matter how he was feeling. He was amazed that he was even thinking of her this way. He'd never thought of his partners' feelings in this way before, but now it just seemed natural to consider her feelings with everything that he did. He could almost feel the relief course through her when he spoke more calmly, and he looked back at Coach, who was watching him warily, nodding to him with a sigh of resignation that he really didn't have much choice about the situation.

"Let's go."

Quickly moving down the street, the group entered the only open building they could see, unable to find anything useful other than a set of stairs, which led them through an exit door and onto a small, flat roof. The ladder they were able to use to get to ground level led them into a back alley, where a safehouse marker had been spray painted on the wall. Another pile of ammo sat in the corner, clearly dumped by someone in a rush. There wasn't much, but enough to keep them going. Only meters away was a gap in a large fence, so, turning right into that, they spotted their way out through another building to their left.

There were now so close to the bridge that they could almost touch it. Knowing that they were so close sent everyone into even further worry and urgency, and their run to the saferoom was the fastest run they'd made on their whole journey. Moving around parked vehicles and through a concrete barricade, the group finally found their safe room, which they couldn't wait to occupy.

"Get that door shut." Coach panted, "Ellis, let me check your arm..."

Rochelle, Nick and Julia hurried to get the door barricaded and they then used the opportunity after that exhausting chore was done to get their breath back after the run. The five of them took the time to quickly help redress Ellis' arm, being sure to clean it as best they could considering it was a deep wound.

"This ain't... I ain't gonna turn... Right?" Ellis asked worriedly, looking up at the group with a pale face and frightened expression.

For the briefest of seconds, no-one knew what to say because they didn't know for certain whether a scratch from a Hunter was going to cause him to become infected or not. Nick, however, much to everyone's amazement, was the first to come to his rescue.

"Don't worry, El. It didn't bite you, right?" He said with a small smile, "As long as you're not bitten, you're fine."

Ellis didn't really seem comforted by this, but regardless, he nodded, smiled weakly and got to his feet, his arm now clean and bandaged. He didn't hesitate before moving to the right of where he was sitting, climbing the ladder that was against the wall. Everyone else looked at each other, their eyes each betraying their calm exteriors. If Ellis did turn... No. No, they weren't going to think like that. They were going to focus on getting off that bridge and to the safety of the military.

Once they were all at the top level of the safehouse, they looked at one another with a whole host of emotions; sadness, fear, worry and dread. Julia was the first to set her weapon down by the door, and she slowly, nervously opened her arms to the others. Taking the hint, Rochelle set her own weapon down, moving forward to wrap the younger woman in a hug. Ellis then did the same, followed by Coach, and then Nick, who knew that this could be the last time he'd get to hold his girlfriend, pushed the feeling of embarrassment as far down into his stomach as he could, and he stepped towards the group, stepping between Julia and Rochelle before joining in with the five-person hug.

As they released one another, the group slowly readied their weapons and tried to prepare themselves for the daunting task ahead of heading out onto the bridge.

~ To Be Continued ~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you for continuing to read this and support me! It's very much appreciated!