Hello everyone :D
And here is the third chapter! :) And I know that it took longer than the last update. But school started again so I have not so much time on my hands anymore to write. This means that the updates will take some time. But I will not abandon this story, for that it makes too much fun to write it :')
And thank you for the reviews, favs and follows. I'm happy to see/read that you all like my story :'D
Well, enough of my babbling X'D
Enjoy the chapter ;D (And like always, you can point any mistake that I made out to me)
Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead isn't mine, but my OCs are
Chapter 3_Cats and Sharks
Chiara was terrified as she pressed herself tightly against the wooden wall of the closet in the hopeless try to vanish through it.
She gulped loudly as she tried to calm her nerves a little bit before she hesitantly looked at the hunter again who still just sat there and stared at her. She had to admit that it was slightly unnerving and made her even more nervous than she already was.
Why was he staring? Why wasn't he attacking her?
Her daddy had always warned her of all the bad people because they were dangerous and would bring immense pain when they attacked what would most likely end in death. And her daddy told her always the truth. He was also always right.
So why wasn't she in any pain and why wasn't she dead?
She barely wondered about all this as the hunter finally moved. He reached with one of his dirty and bloody hands for her whereupon Chiara flinched violently and out of sudden panic and the following adrenalin rush she darted out of the closet and past the hunter who seemed too stunned for a moment to react properly and to grab her.
But unfortunately for her this didn't last long as she heard a quiet growl from the hunter before he spun around and tried to grab her again. Panicked the little girl stumbled back with a loud cry whereupon she lost her balance and fell clumsily on her butt.
Before the hands of the hunter could touch her – and they had just been some millimeters afar from doing so – some loud moans sounded as a few commons stumbled in the room. They must have heard her cry and wanted to hurt her now.
As the hunter looked up and over to the other bad people so that his focus wasn't only on the little girl anymore Chiara made immediately use of the opportunity.
She hurriedly spun around and crawled on all fours away from the bad people before she spotted the bed and quickly hid under that. Clamping her hand over her own mouth to prevent herself from making any noise, that she wanted to do so desperately, she shut her eyes tightly and just wished that all the bad people would be gone.
She flinched violently as she heard the angered snarling and growling from the hunter before some pained noises sounded from the commons. She didn't even dare to open her eyes as she heard how claws met rotting flesh and how blood splattered on the floor – even though the little girl didn't know for sure what was happening and what these awful sounds meant.
Not until it became deathly quiet in the room did she hesitantly open her eyes and rolled slowly on her stomach to have a better look. But all she could see was weird dark red stuff that was nearly black on the floor and a pair of dirty feet and bloody hands.
The hunter was still here!
Upon this realization Chiara couldn't stop the quiet whimper from escaping her lips. The noise barely sounded in the room, as the feet and hands of the hunter moved in the direction of the bed, in front of which he stopped and crouched down in order to look under it.
The hunter uttered a soft sounding noise as his gaze fell on the little girl before he quickly reached out for her.
Chiara's eyes widened while she clumsily started an attempt to crawl out of reach of the hunter's arm. But this time she was too slow.
A choked cry left her lips as the hand of the hunter grabbed one of her ankles and started to pull her to him. The little girl tried desperately to hold on to something but her short nails clawed uselessly for the floor.
This was it. With a loud whimper she squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the pain that would come next.
But instead of pain she suddenly felt two arms around her which pressed her small body against another bigger one. Surprised she opened her eyes again only to see a clothed chest in front of her. She had to blink several times before she finally could process what had happened.
Did that hunter seriously hold her in his arms? Was he trying to hug her?
Confused Chiara looked up and directly in the face of the infected. From her angle she had a perfect view at his face and no shadows were there to hide his facial features. But what the little girl saw reminded her of the fact what this person who held her close really was.
It was one of the bad people. The sight of dried blood around his mouth and especially the one empty eye socket and the only remaining eye that looked also directly at her frightened her. It looked creepy.
Scared she started to squirm but stopped again as a soft and comforting sound reached her ears. She needed some seconds to realize what it was exactly.
The hunter was purring!
As the purring continued the hunter slowly dipped his head and began to nuzzle her head which was still covered with her blue hood.
Chiara was more confused than ever even though she couldn't prevent herself from noticing that the actions of the hunter reminded her of a really big cat. Cats weren't bad, they were cute animals...
Maybe this hunter was just like a cat and just wanted to cuddle and to be pet. Was that the reason why he hadn't hurt her yet?
Taking a deep breath Chiara raised one of her slightly shaking hands and reached out for the hunters head even though she could just reach his cheek.
"Don't bite me...", muttered the little girl with a shaking voice as she tentatively petted the hunters cheek who instantly stopped his purring and looked with his one eye at her what just brought her an uneasy feeling in her gut.
Didn't he like to be petted? He was the one who started the cuddling and started the whole cat act!
The sudden toothy grin of the hunter startled her and she slightly flinched out of the false assumption that he would bite her regardless.
But the little girl was damn sure that those sharp teeth weren't of a cat of any kind. They reminded her more of a shark that she had seen once on television.
Chiara furrowed her brow as she stared at those bloody teeth and started to think. Even though the hunter purred and moved like a big cat he still had teeth and the appetite for meat like a dangerous shark.
But before she could dwell any further on that she was suddenly put down on the ground so her back faced the hunter who now sat behind her.
She considered to look back over her shoulder to see what the hunter was doing, but before she could do exactly that the hunter bit without any warning in the material of her hoodie by the nape of the neck and lifted her from the ground.
Chiara squealed out of surprise and slight fright as her feet dangled uselessly in the air while the hunter seemed to have decided to carry her around like cats did with their baby kitties.
As the little girl realized that the hunter was moving in the direction of the window in the room she started to flail her arms in a slight panic.
"Wait! I can't go! I still have to wait for my mommy and daddy! They're coming back to get me!", shouted Chiara helplessly even though she already knew that her parents would probably never come back.
The only answer she got from the hunter was a low growl while he still moved on until he reached the window that was wide open. Without hesitation he grabbed the edge of the window frame before he slightly crouched down to gather some energy in his legs.
"What are you doing? The door is downstairs... You can't go through the window, silly! Even I know that.", informed Chiara the hunter confused whereupon he just ignored her and her words and suddenly jumped out of the open window like he wanted to confute her prior words.
The little girl couldn't help the scream that escaped her lips as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and drew her legs up nearer to her own body. They were going to die!
But the expected pain or death didn't come, instead a low purring noise sounded and she could feel how she swung oh so slightly from the right to the left and back as the hunter shook slowly his head in order to bring her to open her eyes – what she did very hesitantly.
Their new location shocked her. She could only stare in disbelieve at the surroundings of the rooftop on that they currently were – even though she couldn't see too much of it since the hunter's teeth were still biting down on the material of her hoodie in the area of her neck, so that she wasn't able to turn her head properly.
What exactly did just happen? How did they end up here? And why did they survive a jump out of the window?
Confused the little girl furrowed her brow before she remembered the words of her daddy. Hunters could jump really high... So that would mean that they could also withstand a very high drop that would follow the high jump. That had to be it.
"And what now?", asked Chiara out loud even though she didn't expect any real reply from the hunter who looked around before he started to move again.
This time as the hunter leaped from rooftop to rooftop the little girl was just a little bit scared, now that she knew that such a jump wouldn't end in their death. Instead she quickly took a shine to traveling like that. She couldn't really believe it herself but it was fun to jump like that from rooftop to rooftop. It was just like flying, so that she couldn't help herself but to spread her arms to her sides like a plane and to squeal out of delight. She wasn't too sure but she thought that she heard the hunter cackling about her behavior, what she just shrugged off and rather enjoyed their short journey.
It wasn't too long until they stopped again on a rooftop where the hunter looked briefly around and sniffed the air before he crawled to the edge of the building and climbed on a windowsill on the top floor to jump through the shattered window and in the room.
After he sniffed in the air again he carefully lowered his head until Chiaras feet touched the ground and released the material of her hoodie from his teeth and just stared at the little girl.
Chiara looked around her surroundings and was surprised that the little apartment looked so untouched from all the mess that was going on. She couldn't detect any blood on the walls or the floor and all the furniture seemed to be still intact. The most places she had seen before were tainted in red and you had to look out where you stepped because of all the broken furniture, the broken glass or body parts – even though her parents had made sure that she didn't see too much of the latter when it could be helped.
"Is this your home?", asked the little girl the hunter as she turned around to him who just cocked his head and seemed somewhat confused before he lifted his hand and pointed at first at her and then to their surroundings with a quiet inquiring sounding noise.
Now it was Chiaras turn to be confused. Did the hunter even understand her? It didn't seem like it.
She bit her bottom lip as she looked around again, hoping to see what the hunter had pointed out but she couldn't detect anything special. They stood in the living room with an open kitchen, there were also two doors – even though one of them was just a door frame while the other one was closed with an actual door out of wood – which were leading out of the large room. She guessed that behind the closed door was the bathroom and through the doorframe you would end up in a bedroom. Just as she was in the process to look back at the hunter something else catched her attention.
There was a fridge standing in the small kitchen. A fridge meant food. She just now realized how hungry she was.
Hurriedly she ran up to the fridge and reached for the handle, but no matter how much she stretched she couldn't reach it. She was just too small. Frustrated she huffed and started to pout as she folded her arms in front of her chest.
She looked up again as the hunter crawled over to her and sat down on his haunches beside her.
"Can you open it, please?" To clarify her request Chiara pointed at the handle of the fridge and made some motions with her hands like she wanted to open a door.
The little girl sighed out of relieve as the hunter seemed to understand and reached for the handle which he grabbed somewhat awkwardly and pulled the door of the fridge open.
Chiara instantly looked at the contents of the fridge which wasn't much. Most of the stuff seemed to be moldy. At least they looked like something that she wanted to eat once but her mummy had taken it from her with the explanation that the food was moldy and that she would get stomach pain from it plus getting sick.
Sighing the little girl closed the fridge again and turned around to investigate the rest of the little apartment. While she walked over to the closed door she reached up and pulled her hood from her head so that her ginger hair and the pigtails appeared. She shook her head slightly and her pigtails bounced on either side of her head with the motion before her hood was suddenly grabbed and pulled over her head again.
"What...?" Confused the little girl looked up and at the hunter who had done it. Frowning slightly Chiara reached up and pulled her hood from her head again. As she saw how the hunter wanted to grab her hood again she quickly batted the offending hand away and shook her head wildly.
"Cut it out!", demanded the little girl firmly and frowned at the hunter who finally sighed in defeat and lowered his hand.
Satisfied with her small victory Chiara smiled happily before she turned around again and walked up to the closed door. She looked back at her companion and pointed meaningfully at the door knob whereupon the hunter crawled over to her, reached for the door knob and opened the door for the little girl.
Like Chiara had suspected it was a small bathroom with a toilet, a basin and a bathtub that you could also use as a shower.
Nodding to herself she went to the doorframe that lacked an actual door and looked in the room which was indeed a bedroom with a king-sized bed right in the middle of it. As she regarded the bed she couldn't help the yawn from escaping her while she rubbed her eyes with one hand.
The recently happenings must have tired her out more than she had thought. And the sleep she got in the closet hadn't been that recreative.
She looked up at the hunter as he nudged her with his nose. She yawned again and petted her companion without thinking on the head. The hunter held still for a moment before he crawled quickly to the coach in the living room to grab some pillows that laid on the coach. With the pillows he came back to the bedroom where he jumped on the bed and arranged the blanket and the fluffy pillows to his liking.
Chiara cocked her head slightly in confusion as she watched the hunter, but shrugged shortly after and stepped up to the big window in the bedroom that led to a balcony. She was too tired to figure out to what the hunter was up to.
The little girl looked out the window and over the rooftops. This building was really high. Most of the other surrounding buildings were at least a little bit less high.
A rough cough from outside, followed instantly by a growl from the hunter behind her on the bed pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked briefly back over her shoulder to her companion who seemed a little agitated before she looked back out the window and pressed her face against the cool glass of the window in order to see better through the night. But she couldn't really spot anything that looked suspicious.
Nevertheless the hunter didn't stop his growling. Just as Chiara wanted to ask what was the matter she was grabbed by the hunter and carried to the bed.
The way the pillows and the blanket were arranged reminded the little girl of some kind of a nest from a bird.
The hunter laid her down in the nest before he joined her in the nest and laid down beside her. He instantly pulled her nearer to his chest to share some of his body heat while he curled up on the bed and created so a protective wall out of his own flesh for the little girl.
Chiara was at first a little bit uncomfortable to be that close to the hunter but she quickly shoved that feeling to the side and snuggled close to the warmth and safety that the hunter provided. If she shut her eyes and ignored the bad smell of the hunter it was almost like her daddy laid here with her and cradled her in his arms to help her to sleep.
But her daddy was dead. He would never hold her in his arms again. A quiet sob left Chiara's lips as the tears started to flow down her cheeks. She missed her daddy and mummy. She wanted them back!
The hunter whimpered quietly as he nudged her with his nose again before he started to purr at her and to nuzzle her in the vain attempt to comfort her.
Chiara sobbed just louder as she clenched her small fingers in the material of her companion's hoodie. She faltered slightly as one of her hands felt something hard rather than soft. In an attempt to distract herself from her sorrow she groped the object through the material of the hoodie until she realized that it had to be a pendant of a necklace. Slowly she reached up and slipped her hand under the hoodie of the hunter who jumped out of surprise before he growled warningly. Chiara ignored the warning as she got a grip on the necklace and pulled it out from under the hoodie.
She blinked her blurry eyes a couple of times in order to see something through the tears which slowly ran dry.
The pendant was a shark out of silver. It was a simple design but it still looked pretty.
As the little girl stared at the silver pendant of the necklace she remembered the sharp teeth of the hunter which had reminded her of the teeth of a shark.
Shark. That wouldn't be such a bad name to call the hunter. She had to call the hunter something after all. She couldn't just address him as 'mister Hunter' or with a simple 'you'. The more often she repeated the name in her head, the more she liked it. Shark it was then.
With a small smile she released the pendant from her grip so that it dangled from the hunters neck again before she tried to wipe the remaining tears away.
"Thanks. Good night, Shark.", mumbled Chiara weakly and nestled up against Shark who stared at her still somewhat worried and with a questioning look. Even though she was dead tired she couldn't sleep immediately. Too much was going through her head and the bad smell of the hunter didn't help either.
Not til Shark started to purr again did the little girl drift off with a small smile on her lips and the fleeting thought that the hunter needed a bath.