Hello everyone :D
At first I want to say thank you for the reviews, favos and follows :) I really didn't except that much response to my fanfiction. But so it makes me just happier :')
Actually I wanted to just write a little bit through the perspective of the hunter before he finds Chiara. But, well~ I got caught up in writing and wrote more than I originally intended to. So now you have a whole chapter about the hunter and we didn't get any further with the story as with Chiara in the last chapter X'D
I hope you will still enjoy the chapter :'D
And I also hope that my english isn't too bad or too hard to read and to understand *lopsided smile*
Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead isn't mine, but my OCs are
Chapter 2_Ghosts of the past
He was startled awake as a loud noise coupled with some screams and rapid footsteps reached his ears.
Instantly he sprung up on all fours and growled a warning before he realized that there was no immediate danger around. Confused the hunter sat down on his haunches while he still somewhat sleepily looked around him.
The first thing that he noticed was that he was still in his little den that he had chosen for the day ahead which by the looks of it wasn't over yet. He couldn't help himself but to scowl at the aspect that it was still daytime.
Daytime meant persistent light which was very bad and hurt his eyes, even though he had just one of these left. So he prefered to hunt at night and to sleep during the day.
With a quiet growl he rose from his position so he could jump from the nearly destroyed coach on which he had slept on and to crawl over to one of the windows in order to see what was happening outside and what had awoken him.
In the streets below he could see many of the commons who nearly ran each other over in order to get to one specific location. Now that the hunter was more awake he noticed the high pitched noise in the distance that often originated from cars and that made the commons – or how he liked to call them, the stupid ones – to act like crazy.
But this sound also meant that some survivors were near. Such a stupid prey. Didn't they know that loud high pitched noises were bad for them and would mean death for them?
The hunter cackled lowly about this before his stomach reminded him painfully that he was really hungry and hadn't had something to eat for days.
He should rather follow the stupid ones to the alarm in order to get something to eat before the stupid ones ate all of the prey for themselves than to just sit here and to starve himself to death.
With a loud shriek he jumped out of the window that no longer had any glass left and landed on a rooftop opposite the street.
He was just glad for his dark red hoodie that protected him from the evil light.
After he pinpointed the exact direction of the origination of the high pitched noise he collected enough energy in his legs and leaped to the next rooftop.
It wasn't long until he arrived at his destination where he stopped on one of the roofs and looked down at the street with the noisy car.
Some of the stupid ones still lingered around the car even though the majority of them stormed in a run-down looking building. The hunter guessed that the prey was in this building. After quickly sniffing the air and straining his ears he could confirm his prior guess. The smell of the warm, living prey and the noise of screams and gunshots came definitely from inside that building.
Grinning the hunter crouched down to prepare for his next leap as another high pitched screech sounded near by and interrupted his intention. He instantly perked up and looked around him hoping to spot the other hunter. Another of his brethren.
But besides the curiosity and the slight uneasy feeling in his gut another emotion welled up in him. A raging anger. How dare this hunter to infiltrate his hunting grounds! No one was allowed in here. Even though his terrain was really small it was still his hunting ground. His alone!
Snarling in anger he raised his nose up in the air and began to sniff wildly. But the scent that he catched in the air prompted him to pause in his snarling and growling.
He knew that scent.
A quiet whine left his lips as he tried to remember from where and when he knew that particular scent.
Another loud screech sounded before a huge hunter landed behind him on the rooftop whereupon he hastily spun around in order to face the intruder.
He unconsciously let a whiny-voiced growl slip as he recognized the much bigger hunter to his own displeasure.
The other one wore a dark green hoodie with a black hood which left sleeve was missing completely while the right sleeve of the hoodie was just half shredded. He also wore gray pants and was barefoot. His face as well as his left arm were adorned with many ugly scars and a pair of empty eye sockets could creep anyone out with their unseen stare. All in all the other one was a picture of a scary looking, muscular giant.
There was no mistake, no denying it. These looks coupled with the familiar scent and the sadistic grin made it clear to him who this other hunter was.
Scarface.
Or at least that was what he used to call the other hunter a long time ago who was still at least twice his size.
Why was he here? He had thought that Scarface and his pack were wide away. At least they had to be in another city entirely. That time he had made sure to cover a lot of ground between them and himself.
Fed up with the continuing staring match Scarface took a step closer to the smaller hunter who quickly tried to hide his uneasiness and growled warningly while he took a defensive stance and bared his bloody teeth.
Scarface could just grin in amusement as he took this display in. Did that sorry excuse of a hunter really think that he could defeat his alpha? That he could stand a chance against a superior? Ridiculous!
Without any warning Scarface pounced on the smaller one but instead of warm flesh, his claws met the hard surface of the roof. The other one was fast. He had to give the little fucker that.
Grinning and licking his lips out of excitement Scarface turned his head to look over the hunter in the red hoodie with black sleeves who had really managed to dodge his attack.
But he wouldn't let this happen again.
With a loud snarl Scarface feinted an attack with his claws to the others face before he let his hand collide painfully with the back of the smaller ones head instead as the smaller one ducked to evade the blow to his face and presented so unwillingly his vulnerable neck and the back of his head.
More out of the shock than really out of the pain from the blow to the back of his head the hunter in the red hoodie tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Before he even could stand up again the bigger hunter was over him and pinned him to the hard surface of the rooftop. While Scarface's hands pressed down on his shoulder blades his legs straddled his own in order to immobilize him that way.
The smaller one growled out of fury and shame before he ended up whining and whimpering as Scarface's claws pierced the flesh of his shoulder blades warningly. He was at the mercy of his former alpha and there seemed nothing he could do about it.
He jumped and a startled yelp left his lips as Scarface bit in the material of his hood and tore it from his head to expose him to the evil light. He immediately squeezed his one eye shut while he whined loudly and started to squirm.
The sudden low growl and the feeling of sharp teeth grazing his throat stopped him in all his movements. Fearfully he held still and just let a quiet submissive whimper pass his lips. He didn't mistook the warning for anything else but what it was. Even the slightest wrong move and the bigger hunter would really bite down and pierce his flesh with his razor sharp teeth to easily tear out some flesh. He didn't want to end like that. He wanted to live a little while longer, thank you very much.
Scarface finally seemed satisfied with his now more submissive reaction to his actions as he purred confidently and slowly retreated first from his throat and then entirely from him.
His first instinct as he felt the weight lifting from his body was to get as much space between them as possible. But before he could do just that one of Scarface's feet kicked him painfully in the ribs so that he slid a few meters over the rooftop before he came to a stop.
The following snarl that left Scarface's lips made the message clear. Leave now, that prey is mine!
Weakly coughing the smaller one slowly sat up before he pulled his hood back over his head and glared hatefully at the other hunter.
With another furious snarl from Scarface he finally fled the scene and leaped from rooftop to rooftop. As he looked briefly back over his shoulder he could watch how Scarface entered the building in which was the prey with a sadistic grin on his face.
He couldn't help himself but to growl out of frustration about this. And there went his meal.
How he hated this hunter! He detested Scarface over all else.
Back in his temporary dent he paced back and forth while still growling to himself. He would go back later. Hopefully there would still be some food left for him. Even if it was just a little bit. It didn't matter anymore now. He needed something to eat no matter how small the portion would be.
Whining he dropped on the coach while all the while wondering why Scarface was here in the first place. Scarface's appearance meant that the pack couldn't be too far away either. Even though he could still remember that the alpha male prefered to hunt all by himself and to leave his pack behind for a while before he returned to it again. So the pack could also be far away.
While he wracked his brains for answers it didn't take him long to doze off in a fitful sleep.
The next time he woke up it was nighttime.
Without any hesitation he immediately jumped from the couch and out the window to get back to that building. As he arrived there it was unusually quiet. Beside the occasional moans of the stupid ones who stumbled dumbly around there was no other sound.
Cocking his head to the side the hunter jumped from the rooftop and landed directly in front of the entrance of the building in that had been the prey.
Before he entered he sniffed the air and discovered to his relieve that Scarface wasn't around anymore. Even though his scent was still in the air it was so faint that he couldn't be here in person.
After his stomach reminded him again painfully that he needed something to eat he crawled in the building and up the stairs where the smell of blood was the strongest.
In the hallway he could spot some stupid ones who all seemed to gather around a corpse. Snarling the hunter sprinted towards them and violently lashed out. Surprised the stupid ones stumbled back before they realized who had interrupted them and made obediently room for the snarling hunter. Some of them walked off entirely while the others still stood near and regarded the small hunter with uneasiness.
The hunter didn't pay them any more attention and instead looked at the corpse of which wasn't that much left. It seemed like it had been a woman with ginger hair at some point even though he couldn't be too sure about that.
Shrugging he bent down and greedily ate the poorly remains which didn't really fill his stomach to his liking. But at least it was something and it lessened the pain in his stomach a little bit.
Though he couldn't help himself to be disappointed as he finished all of it and looked around him, hoping that there was another corpse around. But to his misfortune there wasn't.
Had there been just one survivor or had the stupid ones or even Scarface ate all of them whole? He was certain that he had smelled more than one prey earlier that day. Or had he been mistaken?
Just to make sure he sniffed in the air again and paused. There was another scent. Hard to detect under all the smell of gore and blood but there was definitely some other scent. A fresh and warm scent.
Someone was still alive in this building!
But why did Scarface let them live and didn't ate them too? Or at least brought them back to his pack?
Well, he supposed the bigger hunter got his fill and didn't care enough to scout the building afterwards.
Shrugging the hunter decided that it didn't matter. That was all the better for him.
Eagerly he followed the scent along the hallway and in one of the rooms. He slightly looked around him before he pinpointed the location where the scent was the strongest.
The closet. The prey was in the closet.
Silently he sneaked up to the closet and sat down on his haunches in front of the closed wooden doors. The only thing that he could hear from inside the closet was deep and slow breathing.
That was weird. Normally the breath of the prey would quicken when it saw him or one of his brethren.
Slightly confused the hunter leaned forward and looked through the crack of the two doors of the closet. He needed a short moment to spot the prey. But what he saw confused him just even more.
Why was the prey so small? And why did it sleep in there?
But before he could dwell too long on that he noticed the blue hoodie and the similarity it brought with it to something or rather someone else.
Suddenly an image of a grinning pup with a blue hoodie flashed before him. The pup snuggled with a big grin on its face close to him to seek his warmth while he purred at it.
Growling to himself he wildly shook his head in order to get the images to vanish. He didn't want to see that. He didn't want to remember that now!
Some movement in the closet catched his attention and pulled him out of his slight panicked thoughts. It seemed like he woke the little thing up with his growl.
At first the little girl – and he just noticed now that it was indeed female – stired and slowly sat up whereupon she looked around herself and seemed not to like what she saw. At first the hunter was confused as the little thing pulled her hood over her head but as he took the view in and heard the little whimper another image flashed before his inner eye.
A pup, a little female what was rare in their species, clutched at her blue hood while she whimpered pathetically and curled up on the ground. He tried to calm her down as he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. He didn't like it when she was scared of something. His little girl should be happy and not scared or sad.
The hunter furiously shook his head as another growl left his lips. He bared his teeth out of slight pain and anger that the images brought with them. He really didn't want to think about this!
But to his luck the little girl in the closet distracted him again from his own thoughts as her big grey-blue eyes met with his one milky green eye and instantly filled up with horror. He could practically smell the terror on her as well as he could hear the quickening of her heartbeat.
Usually these things would bring him joy and a kind of excitement but now he couldn't help himself but to dislike it. He didn't really like it to see that little girl so distressed.
But why?
Carefully he raised his arms and slowly opened the doors of the closet whereupon the girl gasped loudly and hurriedly scooted back until her back hit the wooden wall of the closet.
Even though the survivors liked to believe that all infected were too stupid to open some doors that wasn't the case, obviously. He wasn't that dumb that he didn't know how to open a fricking door!
Silently he studied the little girl a little bit closer now that some more light was provided through the open doors.
The little girl wore a blue hoodie that seemed to be a little bit too big for her. If he wasn't mistaken it also had some kind of white wings on its back, even though that didn't make much sense to him. Along the blue hoodie with the white wings she wore a dark red short skirt and under that a pair of black tights. She also wasn't barefoot but had black boots on.
The hunter noticed rather quickly that the girl regarded him as well. Her big grey-blue eyes roamed fearfully over his body. At first she looked at his bare feet then she wandered up higher and viewed his pair of black pants. After that she regarded his dark red hoodie that had black sleeves before she finally ended up to stare in his face which was mostly cloaked in shadows.
After he took the image of the girl really in he became painfully aware of the fact how similar they looked.
He now knew why. He knew why he didn't feel the urge to eat that little thing.
The little girl reminded him painfully of his own little pup who he had lost. It almost was like his dead beloved pup sat in a human form before him right at this moment. He missed his little girl so much so that he would give almost everything to get her back.
It was so absurd but nevertheless his instincts told him that this girl was a helpless pup – it was his pup.
And he had to protect his pup no matter what.