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

A/N: Well, hello! I hope you're all doing well! Thank you again for the continued support. It does mean a lot to me, and I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.

Shin Maxwell: Yeah, I've never had a zombie set off a car alarm in-game, but realistically it would make sense that zombies would bump into cars and set the alarms off. The cars in-game are apparently sensitive to being bumped into or whatever. Anyway, thanks for another review! I look forward to reading them when they come through. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

~ Not So Forsaken ~

- Chapter Twenty-Nine -

The air had seemingly become very quiet apart from the distant sounds of jets circling the area as Coach, Rochelle, Julia, Ellis and Nick all made their way onto the Memorial Bridge, the last gauntlet between themselves and rescue.

They'd come so far together, and even though they hadn't been together for very long, their journey had been a tough and dangerous one, causing them to have to rely and depend on each other for protection and survival. Actually, the group had found themselves becoming so close that now, they were practically family. No-one was getting left behind, no matter what, and now they were at the final stretch, they knew that they desperately had to pull together as a team in order for them to actually make it out of this alive. Ellis' arm was still giving him a lot of discomfort, and the group could see how difficult he was finding it to carry his shotgun, so they were all prepared to step up and protect him if necessary. They had a feeling that he might have to abandon it soon, and he'd then have to rely on them to keep him safe until they got to safety.

Stepping onto the bridge, they were confronted with the bloodied body of a fallen survivor, who was clutching a crackling radio in his hand. That radio was probably their only way of contacting the military and when they could hear it crackling, the survivors' sense of urgency seemed to increase at a sickening rate since they knew that they had very little time to actually arrange a rescue with the military. Nick didn't waste any time before grabbing the radio, hitting the button on the side and calling out to anyone who might be able to hear them.

"Christ!" Came a sudden shout from the other side, "That's coming from the bridge! Are you alone?!"

The relief that the group felt when they heard a voice responding to them was incredible. Rochelle leant against Ellis with a big grin on her face, Julia felt her knees buckle a little as she let out a rather emotional sounding laugh, and Coach found himself putting an arm around the youngest member of the group, also laughing quietly to himself while he offered her a quick, warm, fatherly hug.

"There are five of us here! Three men and two women!" Nick yelled over the sound of another jet which was passing overhead, gripping the radio tightly in his hand.

"Are you immune?" The soldier on the radio asked.

"We're not infected..." Nick answered, a little concerned as to why that question was being asked.

The last thing that he wanted was for them to get to safety only to be shot dead by the military because they were carriers. That might be the reason why they'd lasted this long in the first place. The question still hung in the balance as to whether Ellis was going to turn or not. His injured arm was going to be a serious cause for concern and if he did turn, were the rest of them going to be killed for bringing an infected person into an environment with immune people?

"Negative, bridge. Are you immune? Have you encountered the infected?"

"Have we encountered the infected? Jesus Christ, we've just fought through them all the way from Georgia to get here. We're clearly immune." Nick replied with a roll of his eyes, "You're gonna pick us up, right?"

"You need to lower the bridge so that you can cross. There should be a control panel close to where you are right now." The soldier instructed him, "You see it?"

Nick spotted it to his right and moved to look for the correct switch. It wasn't overly complicated, and thankfully, the correct switch was labelled, so he looked at it his friends, who all eagerly nodded for him to go ahead and get their last run underway, almost as though he wanted their blessing before he hit the switch in question. It felt so surreal to think that this was going to be their last challenge, the last trial they'd have to get through before someone could actually save them for real this time. This was their last chance, and no matter what, they could not screw it up.

"I got it." He said with a shaky breath, "I got it."

"Alright, you need to make it across the bridge where a chopper will be waiting to pick you up. Our ETA is ten minutes. Good luck."

Never had those words sounded so sinister. This was it. This was make or break. If they didn't reach the other side of that bridge, they really would be left to die and there'd be nothing that anyone could do about it. Nick swallowed hard, put his hand on the switch and set the bridge in motion, the radio still held in his now trembling hand. He was genuinely nervous. He knew that everyone else was too, but it was unusual for him to feel so anxious and so frantic. The pressure was immense, and all of them felt as though one wrong move could let the whole team down.

"Thanks." Nick said to the soldier, pocketing the radio before retrieving his rifle, stepping back to watch the bridge lower with the others.

"No-one gets left behind." Coach said, his gaze locked on the path ahead in both determination and anxiety, "We move fast, we watch our backs and we'll be fine."

As the bridge finally stopped, and the metal barriers lowered themselves down, the group of five broke into a run, immediately weaving through the parked vehicles as the screaming of zombies filled the air, seemingly louder and more horrifying than it had ever been. They knew that they couldn't stop unless it was absolutely necessary, and as the first zombies started to come into view, their limbs flailing madly as they raced towards the survivors, the group opened fire on their oncoming enemies, taking them down quickly.

They could hear the pounding feet, the angry yells, the growling, the snarling and the screaming, and as Coach rounded the front of a bus, he found himself face to face with six zombies. Hitting the zombie at the front back with his gun, he then opened fire, his combat shotgun tearing the group to shreds. This time, there was no guilt, no worry and no sorrow for the former-humans he'd just taken out. It had been beyond satisfying to remove the threat and to be able to continue on his way.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" He said with a grin, moving to join the others.

He spotted Nick suddenly dragging Rochelle out of the way of an oncoming Charger, and then found Julia and Ellis trying to take out a rather large pack of zombies who were climbing over vehicles to get to them. Seeing that Nick and Rochelle both clearly had control over the situation with the Charger, he moved to help Julia and Ellis, offering them some covering fire as they both tried to get out of the way of the wave of infected that was approaching them. With Nick and Rochelle returning to them, they managed to clear a path for themselves, and continued on, running as fast as they could.

They quickly came to a hole in the bridge, clearly from the bombing run, and a truck hung haphazardly over the side, creaking as its cab swung ever so slightly in the breeze. There was a small ledge that they could use to get across to the other side of the hole, so, taking Julia's hand, Nick went first, pulling his girlfriend carefully with him so that they could take out more approaching zombies to give the others time to cross. Ellis followed them, then Rochelle and with Coach at the back, and just as they got to the other side, they heard the ominous spluttering and coughing of a Smoker, who Nick caught sight of just feet away from them.

"Smoker!" He yelled, opening fire on the zombie who tried to stumble away from them, green, putrid smoke emitting from its infected body.

With Julia and Rochelle's help, the Smoker was killed within seconds, its body collapsing on the ground nearby. More infected were rushing towards them, arms outstretched, bloody mouths agape and glowing eyes wide and hungry. Running towards the horde, the group were suddenly confronted with a line of tall vehicles, all parked close enough to each other to provide them with a safe space somewhere off of ground level. Spotting a ladder on the back of a fuel tanker, Julia told the others to climb up, and she stayed on the ground to cover them as Ellis climbed first, followed by Coach, then Rochelle and then Nick.

"Babe, come on!" He called to her, kneeling on top of the tanker to cover her while she managed to climb to the top of the vehicle.

Carefully running across the top, one by one, the survivors leapt from the tanker and onto a bus, then again onto another bus before realising they'd have to get back to the ground again. Ellis hopped down to the ground first, opening fire on more of the zombies that were rushing towards them while the others climbed down to the ground as well, all of them breaking into a run once again. The horde seemed relentless, pouring towards the survivors from the path ahead like cockroaches scurrying out of the light, and the five of them started to grow worried that they may not have enough ammo to actually get to the other side.

"Keep moving!" Nick yelled, "Fuck these assholes, just go!"

Up ahead, there was a large shape moving towards them between the hordes of zombies, and as Rochelle screamed out a warning that it was approaching, the group shot at the oncoming zombie, causing it to explode and send some of the infected that it was running by to actually stumble and fall over the side of the bridge. The Boomer's lower body rolled a little in a rather darkly funny way, slipping over the edge of another huge hole in the bridge.

"Stay close!" Julia called, "We have another ledge to cross!"

Everyone moved as carefully as they could over the gap, proceeding onward towards a ramp. Choosing between going up the ramp or staying on the lower level of the bridge wasn't difficult when the roar of a Tank filled their ears, and without even needing to tell each other, they started to climb the ramp to give themselves a fighting chance against the big, hulking zombie, who was now starting to climb up on vehicles to head them off at the other side. Without hesitation, Nick knelt down to start opening fire, while Rochelle and Julia covered him from above. Ellis and Coach moved closer to deliver more devastating shots to the Tank, who was now coming towards them at an alarming speed. It tore a chunk of concrete out of the ground and hauled it at Coach, who was unable to dodge it in time and was sent crashing to the floor, leaving a wounded Ellis alone to try and take the Tank out.

It fell to the ground after a few more rounds from Nick and the girls, who then rushed to help get Coach on his feet. Coughing and holding his side, Coach managed to get back up, his lip now cut and bleeding. Giving the others a nod to say that he was okay to go, the group raced past the Tank's corpse and found themselves with the broken remains of this level of the bridge. They could see that they had a route down to the lower level by climbing on the top of a truck, so they let Coach and Ellis go first and Nick went last, making sure that Rochelle and Julia got down there safely.

"We can't be too far away now!" Rochelle yelled out, "Let's keep going!"

Breaking into a run, the group continued to shoot at the oncoming zombies, feeling more and more conscious about their ammo levels with every second that passed. If they ran out, how were they going to make it to the safety of their approaching rescue vehicle? They hadn't seen any weapons lying around and they certainly hadn't spotted any ammo either. A sudden squealing from up ahead caught their attention, and they could see the bright green acid dripping from the mouth of a Spitter who was approaching them from another higher level of the bridge. The structure had obviously taken a lot of damage from the bombing run, and the group knew that they were going to have to be careful since the bridge was clearly far from safe to be crossing like this.

One clean shot from Julia sent the Spitter crashing to the ground, leaving a pool of acid to form around her body. Knowing that they had to get to the higher levels, there were a very panicked few seconds where the group were rushing around to try and find a way up there. Realising that they were standing next to another fuel tanker, they quickly started to climb, using the top of that vehicle as a means to reach the higher level. With the Spitter's acid now dissolved, the five survivors made their way onto the higher part of the bridge, with Ellis at the front shooting the zombies that were climbing towards them from the lower level.

"I need a minute!" Coach yelled suddenly, bringing the group to a halt, "My ribs..."

Without waiting for anything, Rochelle rummaged through her bag for some deep heat gel, ordered the others to cover her, and immediately got to work giving Coach some pain relief. Coach tried to catch his breath as Rochelle worked on him, while Ellis, Nick and Julia continued to shoot the horde that was still racing towards them from up ahead.

"Hurry it up, Ro!" Nick yelled, knocking a male infected back so hard that he stumbled off the ledge that he and the others were close to.

"Patience is a virtue, Nick!" She yelled back, continuing to apply the gel to Coach's ribs.

Before Nick could respond, there was a screech from ahead of them, and crawling across the top of the bus that they knew they would need to use to get back to ground level were three Hunters, each sounding angrier than the other Hunters they'd encountered before. Opening fire on the Hunters, Nick managed to take out the leader with his rifle but Ellis and Julia's bullets wounded the other two, sending them leaping in separate directions.

"Terrific..." Nick growled under this breath, "Keep your eyes open! We got two loose Hunters out here!"

"Okay, we're ready!" Rochelle called, helping Coach back to his feet, "Let's go!"

"Onto this bus!" Julia cried out, her eyes wide and panicked, "Go!"

One by one, they climbed onto the roof of the bus, continuing to shoot at approaching infected while trying to steadily make their way down to the front of the bus and safely to ground level. The highway ahead of them was now blocked, but an opening to the right appeared to be where they needed to go. Racing between the chainlink fences that the military had put in place, the group finally felt like they were leaving the horde behind. The sound of growling and snarling caught their attention, and both Coach and Rochelle turned to see the two Hunters approaching again, both of them opening fire on the creatures which finally took out the threat and sent them collapsing dead to the floor. Now, hopefully, the group could complete their journey and get to the pick-up point safely.

However, just as they felt they were about to make a run to where the helicopter would land, which was now approaching from the left of the bridge, a hideously loud roar came from ahead. Another Tank was now hitting vehicles out of the way on the other side of a chainlink fence. Knowing they couldn't outrun it, the survivors started to open fire on it, all of them horrified when it started to climb over the fence towards them. The helicopter came to land on their right, and the group were going to have to climb down from their current location and make their way across and through another maze of fencing to get to it. They were running out of time.

"Run! Go now!" Nick yelled, "We can't hang around! Go!"

The Tank was halfway over the fence as the group sprinted past it, with Ellis and Rochelle both leaping off the ledge first and landing on the top of a parked truck. As they climbed down to ground level, Coach went next, and Julia ushered Nick to follow him, looking behind her in utter horror as she saw the Tank moving towards her. At that moment, her eyes locked onto those of the enormous infected, and her heart stopped beating for the briefest of moments. Almost as if in slow motion, it raised its arm, letting out a blood-chilling roar before hurling itself at her, hitting her in the stomach and chest with its enormous fist.

She felt herself being lifted from the ground, her body flying backwards at an alarming rate. Everything around her seemed to suddenly slow down. The last thing she saw as she hurtled backwards and past her friends was the Tank beating its chest when all of a sudden her world fell dark...

The sight and sound of Julia's body hitting the parked car ahead of them were both utterly horrific. Nick let out the most grief-stricken cry of horror that any of the others had heard before, and he leapt from the top of the truck, not caring about the shooting pain he felt in his feet as he landed before sprinting to where his girlfriend's prone body was now laying. Dropping his gun, he fell to his knees, a huge lump of emotion sitting in his throat as he tried to ease her away from the car. She had a nasty gash on the side of her head, and already, an awfully dark bruise was beginning to form on her beautiful face.

"Jules...?" He whispered to her almost desperately as the others raced towards him, "Baby, can you hear me?"

This was it... His punishment... They were almost home free. The helicopter was waiting for them and it had literally been in their sights but that Tank just had to... Everything that they'd fought through to get here hadn't been enough to take her down. Her abusive partner hadn't been enough to take her down either, but one swat from a Tank had left her incapacitated and unable to move on her own. That helicopter could take off at any moment, and he knew that there was a very real chance that he'd have to leave her behind. He'd known all this time that something was going to come and take her away from him. Why the fuck had he gone first? It should be him laying on the ground like this now, not her.

"Nick!" Rochelle got to him first, falling to her knees beside him, "Nick, we have to go! The chopper's gonna leave if we don't...!"

"For fuck's sake, Ro!" Nick screamed suddenly, startling Rochelle so much that she fell backwards, "I can't leave her! I can't leave her!"

For the first time in over twenty years, Nick felt a burning sensation in his eyes, and his vision became blurry. Rochelle was stunned by what she was seeing. There were real, genuine tears in Nick's eyes, his cheeks becoming blotchy and his chest heaving with every breath he took. Rochelle gazed at him with pity in her eyes, her hand immediately moving to cup his cheek firmly, but warmly in a motherly fashion.

"Nick..."

"Pick her up!" A commanding voice filled the group's ears, and they looked up to see two soldiers racing towards them, both of them opening fire on the Tank that was now starting to climb to ground level, "Pick her up now! Move!"

Rochelle grabbed Nick's gun and Ellis grabbed Julia's while Nick hauled his injured girlfriend into his arms. She was sickly white, her lips parted and her small, frail body limp in his embrace, so he held her tightly, being sure that there was no way that he could drop her. Coach managed to ease Julia's bag off of her and carried it himself while turning around to open fire on the Tank.

The dark-haired soldier who had told Nick to pick Julia up was running behind them, yelling at them to keep going. The blonde soldier at the front was radioing the helicopter ahead, and as they reached the last stretch to the chopper, he stopped, ushering Ellis, Rochelle, Nick and Coach past him before joining his friend at the back of the group. This was it... They were finally going to get out of there... But at what cost?

Nick looked briefly at Julia, who was lying still in his arms, blood now smeared across her soft, precious face, her eyes still closed and her breathing now laboured. Why was her breathing laboured? What other injuries had she received after hitting that damn car? Panic suddenly filled him so violently that he was almost physically sick, but as the open door of the helicopter came into view, he knew he had to push that feeling away for just long enough to get to safety.

Rochelle and Ellis got up the ramp first, and as Nick entered with Julia he met two more soldiers, an African-American man who was now tending to Ellis, and a dirty-blonde-haired man who was beckoning him closer over the roar of the chopper. There was a stretcher waiting in the small space, which Nick knew was going to be used for Julia.

As he eased her carefully onto the stretcher with the help of the soldier, Coach and the other two soldiers rushed into the helicopter. The ramp door slowly closed as the chopper started to lift from the ground, and the roar of the Tank faded into the distance. Coach moved to join his fellow survivors, he sat beside a now unusually emotional Rochelle, who was holding onto Ellis' hand as the African-American soldier prodded and poked at his wound. Ellis' injured arm, which was now stretched outward, rested on Nick's shoulder as he held onto Julia's hand, squeezing it tightly in his own. His emotion seemed to have passed for now, and he was more focused on just being there for Julia as the soldier beside him started to try and care for her.

"What's her name?!" He asked Nick over the roar of the engines.

"Julia!" Nick answered, "Her name's Julia!"

The soldier then started to address her by her name, trying to get her to respond to him. She lay there unmoving, barely breathing by the looks of it, and Nick couldn't shake the God-awful feeling that he was going to lose her. It wasn't until a few moments later that the soldier suddenly moved towards Julia's face, tilting his ear towards her lips. Within seconds, Nick saw him kneeling up, the movement forcing Nick to release Julia's hand. He didn't need to ask what was going on. He already knew.

He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, and he felt himself being pulled away by the dark-haired soldier who'd helped get them to safety, who was now moving to help care for Julia. Nick sat down next to Coach, unable to take his eyes off of what was now happening to his girlfriend, her small body jerking as the dark-haired soldier started chest compressions. Ellis now had an arm around a once again emotional Rochelle while Coach carefully moved to put his arm around Nick in support, clasping his shoulder in what could only be described as a fatherly fashion. With his heart in his throat, the only sound that Nick could focus on as the dirty-blonde-haired soldier injected something into Julia's pale, limp arm was Coach's deep voice near his ear, saying what he thought might be a prayer.

Nothing mattered now. Not a damn thing. If he lost Julia, he didn't want to be saved. He'd only just started to get to know her properly, learning all of her little quirks, her likes and dislikes, and learning how to care for her and make her happy. He'd only just started to accept the fact that he wanted to be in a long-term, loving relationship with her. He'd only just started to allow himself to be freer with her and to trust her with the side of him he hadn't shown for such a long time, and now she was being taken from him. Words could barely describe what he was feeling at that moment. Anger... Fear... Hate even. He was sure there were grief and sadness in there too, but the anger he felt at himself was immeasurable.

The sight of the soldier in front shaking his head was all it took for those walls to start to break again, and for the first time since he was a child, Nick found himself clasping his hands together, bowing his head and closing his eyes before desperately praying for his girlfriend to be saved...

~ To Be Continued ~

Muahaha! I strike again with my cliffhangers!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading this so far!