Hello everyone :D
It's a little bit late to wish you all a Merry Christmas, but I do it now anyway. Sooo, merry Christmas! And just in case, I also wish you all a happy new year ;D
Now, a little warning. Maybe some of you noticed that I raised the rating from 'T' to 'M'. That's because in this chapter are a lot of swearwords and some violent scenes. What can I say? This chapter is from Chiara's daddy's perspective and the man swears a lot when he isn't around his daughter. So yeah X'D
I hope you enjoy the chapter regardless x3
Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead isn't mine, but my OCs are
Chapter 9_Struggle for survival
"Please, honey, stay here. Don't come out, no matter what you hear! I will come and get you", pleaded her father while he put his daughter in a closet.
"But daddy...!", started Chiara but was quickly cut short from the man.
"No buts! You are staying here! Don't come out! Stay put until I or your mother comes back. Understood?"
"Yes daddy", replied Chiara weakly even though she didn't want to leave either side of her parents.
"Good girl. We will be back in no time", promised her father before he closed the doors of the closet and quickly left the room to assist his wife on the hallway.
He took a deep breath as he lifted his shotgun and stepped up to his beautiful wife, who was still shooting everything that got up the stairs. He was nearly at her side as he spotted a common who was too close to the woman he loved for his liking.
Without thinking he pulled the trigger of his shotgun and blew the infected's head off. His wife jumped slightly and quickly looked over her shoulder back at him. He gave her a weak smile, which she returned, before both of them resumed shooting.
He immediately tensed up as he heard a screech near by, that send an unpleasant shiver down his spine.
"A hunter. Don't know where", whispered the brown haired man in a hushed tone to the ginger haired woman beside him, while he looked franticly around. A hunter was bad news.
"I think it's still outside... or downstairs", replied his wife also in a hushed tone – even though her voice was slightly quivering. She grabbed her gun even tighter as she shot another common and briefly looked around – hoping to spot the hunter before it would be too late.
They shot some more commons, before the brown haired man saw something out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head, only to see a really huge hunter, who was crouching down at the bottom of the staircase and was preparing for a jump.
He hurriedly pointed his shotgun at the hunter and pulled the trigger the exact same moment as the hunter leaped towards them, so that the bullet hit the floor where the hunter had been just some seconds ago.
He cursed under his breath about this, before he realized that the damn hunter was targeting his wife. Without thinking he pushed the ginger haired woman to the side and brought himself in the flight path of the hunter's attack.
He cried out in pain as the hunter's sharp, filthy teeth pierced his right forearm, which he had lifted to protect himself just merely a second before the impact. The force with which the giant of a hunter pounced on him, sent both of them crashing to the floor. While he lied on his back on the floor, the hunter in the dark green hoodie was towering over him – still biting down on his right arm. One of his hands was pressed down on the brown haired man's chest, while the other hand was positioned beside the human's head – in order to support his own weight.
At first he acted upon the primal instinct of survival as he started to struggle blindly – only to hiss out of pain as the hunter's teeth only sank deeper into his arm and the claws of the hand, which was resting on his chest, pierced lightly his flesh – before he finally remembered his shotgun again. Only to realize some seconds later that he didn't have it. He must have dropped it during the collision.
He turned his head only to confirm his suspicion as he spotted the shotgun on the floor. He reached for the weapon with his good arm, but had to give up very soon after. That damn thing was just barely out of his reach.
He quickly looked up again as he heard some sort of cackling above him. Was the frigging hunter laughing at him? He bet that his eyes – if he would still have eyes and not just two empty eye sockets – would have sparkled out of sick amusement.
But before he could have thought about that any longer, the giant of a hunter suddenly lifted his one hand from the floor and slapped the appendage forcibly right into his face, only to press down hard afterward.
A choked cry of pain left the brown haired man's lips as he heard a horrible cracking sound from his nose – which was now broken thanks to the hunter's blow. And the continued pressure on his already broken nose didn't help any with the pain.
"Let go of him!" The sudden, desperate sounding voice reminded the young man that his wife was still here and that he wasn't truly alone with that hunter.
The words were barely spoken as gun shots could be heard. The bullets must have hit their target because the big hunter abruptly released his right arm from his teeth with a loud, pained yelp, before he also lifted his hand from his prey's face and looked in the direction of his wife with a furious snarl.
The brown haired man was too dazed from the pain to register right away what happened next.
He could just stare in confusion at the empty space above him, where the hunter had been just some seconds before. He blinked several times, before an ear splitting screech, followed by a pained scream woke him from his temporary state of trance.
Without any hesitation left he sat up and hurriedly spun around, only to witness how the hunter's teeth bit down on his wife's throat and how his claws slashed at her chest and stomach. It seemed like the hunter in the dark green hoodie was done with playing. He was going for the kill.
His eyes widened out of shock, before he lunged at the hunter – in a weak attempt to throw the thing off the ginger haired woman. In his panic he totally forgot about his shotgun.
He put his arms around the hunter's neck, before he squeezed and pulled with all his might – even though his injured right arm didn't take these actions too kindly and made the task even harder.
"Let go! Get the fuck away from her!", he screamed loudly while he pulled desperately at the hunter, before he started to kick the infected for extra measures. But the result of his efforts were the same as when he would have tried to move a brick wall.
At some point the hunter got annoyed with him, so that he let go of his wife for a short moment, only to bat him aside like an annoying fly with a strong swipe of his arm. The young man tumbled ungracefully to the floor just on the edge of the staircase that led down to the first floor.
As he lifted his head he could see how the hunter bared his teeth at him with an angry growl, before the thing whipped around again and continued to maul his wife.
"No!" His desperate cry was easily drowned out by his wife's pained screams. He could just watch in horror how the hunter's claws ripped the young woman's chest open and how the blood splattered not only on the floor but also on her attacker.
The last look which his wife sent him, before her eyes dulled and the spark of life in them disappeared, nearly broke his heart. Her eyes had been so full of pain, but underneath that he had seen her love for him and the silent plea to survive for their daughter's sake.
A loud sob left his lips as he tried to bear down the tears, that threatened to spill any moment.
His love was dead – gone forever. She was killed by the damn hunter. The hunter who was now kneeling over his wife's dead body and was shamelessly wolfing down her still fresh and bloody flesh.
Beside the feeling that he had to vomit any moment now, an uncontrollable rage bubbled up in him. How dare he! How could he?!
But before he could have acted upon his rage something was suddenly tightly wrapped around his ankle. He cried out in surprise and slight panic as that something pulled on his leg and sent him flying down the stairs.
The fall down the stairs was painful and rough, so that the young man could have bet that there was no part of his body anymore that wasn't bruised.
He wasn't granted any rest as he finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs as the thing promptly dragged him over the floor and out of the still open door of the run-down looking house.
A quick look towards his leg was enough to sent him into another panic attack. A disgusting tongue was wrapped around his ankle, which meant only one thing. He was screwed.
Without thinking the young man clung to the door frame of the run-down looking house, just before it was out of his reach. He could barely hold on to the wooden door frame, that already creaked dangerously under the continuing pressure of pulling on it.
"Fuck!", he swore loudly as he spotted some of the commons stumbling towards him. It seemed like they noticed him and saw him as an easy meal. One of them was so eager to devour his flesh that it stumbled over its own feet and tumbled down the stairs in a heap. The brown haired man probably would have laughed about that, if he hadn't been in such a precarious situation right now.
They came nearer and nearer and there was nothing he could do about it. Not only did he loose his wife, now he would die too and only their daughter would be still alive. But he couldn't leave Chiara alone! The little girl wouldn't survive on her own in such a cruel world.
He couldn't die. He mustn't die! He still had to care for his daughter. It was his wife's last wish. And besides that was Chiara all he had left in this world.
He was pulled out of his thoughts as a cold hand suddenly grabbed one of his arms and weakly pulled on it.
"Let the fuck go of me!", screamed the young man angrily, before he ripped his arm out of the infected's grip. But he noticed too late that this was a mistake on his part. By freeing his arm he accidently let go of the door frame, so that he was instantly dragged out further on the street.
He franticly looked around him, hoping to spot anything that could help him. But there was no such luck.
A choked cry left his lips as a sudden hard pull sent him flying through the air again – even though it was a short journey as a wall of a building stopped his flight painfully, so that he was now pulled up along the side of the building rather than being dragged over the street. The young man grimaced with pain while he was stunned from the intense pain for a moment.
How the hell was he supposed to survive this? He didn't have a weapon or anything else to protect himself. But he couldn't just die here. He had to live for his daughter!
His unasked question got answered as a sudden outraged screech sounded near by. He quickly turned his head in order look in the direction from where the sound had come from, only to spot the big hunter in the dark green hoodie crouching down at the entrance of the run-down looking house. The hunter looked really pissed off – even from up here. The brown haired man was sure that the bastard was just so angry because the smoker was stealing his prey right now. One could have thought that it was enough for the damn hunter to only maul his wife and eat her whole. But no, he wanted seconds, he wanted more, he wanted him.
The young man wasn't too sure if he should be relieved or angry about that. On one hand that would maybe save him from getting killed by the smoker but on the other hand was that damn hunter at fault for his love's gruesome death and would probably be the cause of his own death later on too.
How he hated these damn infected.
The big hunter leaped on the rooftop, where the smoker currently was on, with another outraged screech, before the tongue around his leg suddenly loosened its grip.
The brown haired man screamed out of shock as he was suddenly falling head first to the ground below. But against all his expectations did the landing not end in his death. Rather than landing on a hard ground, he landed on something surprisingly soft – even though the landing hurt like a bitch regardless.
Groaning he slowly sat up, only to realize some seconds later that he was resting on a group of moaning commons. He hadn't realized up til now that these damn things had gathered below there where he had been hanging from the smokers tongue.
He couldn't help himself but to laugh out loud in a humorless fashion about that. It seemed like the frigging infected had been good for something for one time at least. They unwillingly saved his life by acting as his cushion to land on.
Growling noises from above him reminded him again that he didn't have the time to hang around. He swiftly stood up – even though his whole body hurt like hell – and hurriedly stumbled back towards the run-down looking house.
But to his displeasure did some commons block his way. They were gathered around the entrance of the run-down looking house. He couldn't get into that house without attracting their attention. He would end up dead and would probably lead them to his daughter.
Gritting his teeth painfully he made a turn and instead stumbled past them and along the street. He briefly looked over his shoulder whereupon he could see that the commons had spotted him and were now following him. Good. In that case there would be fewer infected to find his daughter in that house.
An anew screech brought the young man to start running for his life. Even though he stumbled now and then he managed to stay on his feet and to keep running. He had to find a place to hide. There he could wait until the dust had settled. Then he could come back and get his daughter.
Looking once again briefly over his shoulder he made a turn around a corner into an alleyway, hoping that it wouldn't be a dead end. Fortunately he spotted a door ajar on the end of the alleyway.
He quickly ran up to it, grabbed the doorknob, swung the door further open, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him again. He just hoped that no one saw him going in here.
His small hope was promptly destroyed as he heard a loud growl and some moans just outside the door he was currently leaning against with his back.
"Shit!", he swore quietly as suddenly a heavy force collided with the wooden door in an attempt to open or destroy it. Gritting his teeth he pressed his back tighter against the door in order to keep the infected out for now. Another collision with the door sent the young man nearly falling to the floor as the door gave a violent jerk.
Cursing under his breath again he hurriedly looked around the room. He nearly oversaw it, but there was a staircase that led down to the basement of the building. With any luck that building could have a transformer and so it would have a steel door too. Transformers usually were kept in a small room with a steel door. And it was impossible for any infected to destroy such a door – except for a damn tank, but he doubted that one would come crashing through the wall right now or in the near future.
He took a deep breath, before he dived for the staircase and rushed down the stairs. He barely started his descent as he could hear the loud bang of the door, which probably was swung open that forcibly that it banged against the wall beside the door frame. But he didn't have the time or the mind now to think about that.
He nearly cried out of joy as he really spotted a steel door as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. He quickly ran up to it, pulled the door open, hurried inside, closed the door behind him again and locked it.
He jumped violently as a sudden bang sounded from the steel door, before he reminded himself again that the infected could bang against it as much as they wanted but they would never get in.
"Shit... I did it. I fucking did it!" While laughing quietly to himself he ran his fingers through his hair, before he slumped weakly to the floor and leaned heavily against the transformer in the small room. By the looks of it the transformer didn't work anymore.
Now that the adrenalin was wearing off the pain came back full force. The young man hissed out of pain as every slight movement reminded him of the pain. Everything hurt and he was tired like hell. He still couldn't believe it yet that he survived that – even though his wife didn't.
"I'm sorry... so sorry." He choked this words out to no one in the room as a loud sob left his lips and he couldn't hold the tears back any longer.
"To hell with it all!" Frustrated about the whole situation he slammed his fist against the transformer, before he slumped against it further and pressed his face against the cold metal. He couldn't stop the tremors which shook his body as choked sobs left his lips and the tears ran over his cheeks.
He couldn't save his beloved wife and he couldn't even take revenge for her death. Her gruesome death. The memory was still fresh, so that it was nearly impossible for him to get these pictures out of his head – there had been so much blood. He had seen her frigging guts exposed. It wasn't even the worst that he had to watch how that damn hunter ate his wife. The worst had been her eyes. Her beautiful green eyes that had been so full of pain, that had been looking directly at him. They had burned themselves into his soul. She had been looking directly at him as she died.
"So sorry...fucking sorry", he breathed while he squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
He stayed in this position – crying violently – for some time, before the tears finally ran dry and he calmed down somewhat again.
He couldn't do anything to change that now. Instead he had a task left. He had to care for his, no, their daughter. Wiping his last tears away he turned his head slowly in the direction of the steel door. But he couldn't go right now. He could still hear the hunter's frustrated growls on the other side of the door.
When was he giving up already?
The brown haired man sighed deeply, before something else catched his attention. He didn't really notice it up til now, but his right forearm was itching like a bitch. He quickly looked at the appendage, only to stare at the bite mark there. Right, that frigging hunter bit him before.
Did that mean he was turning? He had no fucking clue if he was immune or not. But was it supposed to itch like that – besides the fact that it still hurt like the rest of his body.
He also was getting more tired by the minute, so that it got harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He supposed a little nap wouldn't be too bad. The damn hunter wouldn't go anywhere any time soon anyway.
"Stay save, honey. I will come and get you very soon. I promise...", he whispered tiredly, even though Chiara wasn't around to hear it. With a last look at the steel door his eyelids drooped fully and he quickly fell asleep.
When he woke up again the first thing that he noticed was unbearable heat. He felt so frigging hot, like he was stuck in a stove.
He groggily opened his eyes but what he could see at first were just blurry shapes. He blinked a couple of times, before he rubbed his eyes furiously and shook his head slightly for extra measures. As he opened his eyes again his sight was at least a little bit better than before.
He sat there for some long seconds, before he remembered Chiara again, so that he propped himself up with a loud groan. Surprisingly his body did hurt a lot less than before.
He stumbled to the still locked steel door, so he could press one of his ears against the metal – the cold metal that did wonders to his overheating body. He nearly lost his focus on the actual task, before he got a grip of himself again and started to listen for any sounds.
He couldn't hear anything suspicious. It seemed like that damn hunter was finally gone.
He quickly unlocked the door and opened the steel door slowly. Some commons were still lingering around in the basement – even though it seemed like they hadn't noticed him yet. He should better keep it that way then. With any luck he could sneak past them. He doubted that he could fight them in his state.
Taking a deep breath he made his way towards the staircase as quietly as possible. But unfortunately he saw the bucket in his path too late, so that he stumbled over that thing and tumbled loudly to the floor.
"Fuck", he swore under his breath as he looked slowly over to the commons, fearing the worst to come. But the commons were just staring at him, before some of them lost interest in him and turned away from him again.
Strange. Why didn't they attack him? He pondered on that for some seconds longer, before he shook his head and reminded himself that he had something more important to do. He could think about that later.
He stood up again and walked towards the staircase again – even though he didn't care if he made some noise or not. It seemed like the commons ignored him anyway, no matter what he did or how loud he was.
After he had climbed the stairs, he swiftly left the building through the wooden door, which had seen some better days.
"Shit... How long was I out? It's fucking dark!" He asked his question out loud as he could just stare at the dark sky in disbelieve. He was sure that it was daytime the last time he was awake. He just hoped that Chiara was alright.
In order to not loose any more precious time he quickly started to move again. He ran out of the alleyway, but as he made a turn around the corner he had to pause for a moment. He leaned heavily against the wall of the building as he got dizzy and the world started to spin wildly around him.
"Fuck, not now", he mumbled to himself as he gritted his teeth and forced himself to go onwards, while he supported his weight with the help of the wall beside him with one hand. Nothing would hinder him from getting to his daughter.
It was a long and tiring way back to the run-down looking house, but he made it back nonetheless. He went up the stairs as quickly as he could while he held tight to the railing. As he arrived at the first floor he looked briefly around – even though his vision was still not perfect. There was so much blood – on the floor, some on the walls of the narrow hallway – but there was no corpse of his wife. Did that frigging hunter really ate her whole? Everything of her?
Biting his bottom lip hard in order to bear down the tears, he hurriedly made his way to the room with the closet, where he had left Chiara.
"Honey, daddy is here... daddy...", he trailed off, as he saw the open, empty closet. No, that couldn't be!
"Honey! Chiara!", he screamed helplessly while he fell on his knees right in front of the closet. He desperately rifled through the remaining contents of the closet, but no matter how hard he searched he couldn't find his little girl in there.
She was gone.
But where the hell was she?!
An outraged as well as desperate sounding cry left his lips, before he buried his face into a cloth that he had still clutched tightly in his hands. He paused as he took a deep intake of air, to catch his breath again after that scream.
The cloth smelled like his daughter – even though he had no fucking clue how he could know something like that. Hell, he didn't know how he could even smell that. He wasn't a freaking dog, which the police often used to track the bad guy's drugs down through their scent.
Shaking his head slightly he clutched the cloth tighter, while he slowly stood up again and looked around the room. There was a corpse of a common near the bed. He bet that thing didn't kill itself like that. Not the way it was slashed open, just like a hunter would do it. Frigging hunters – killing his wife and now his daughter was gone. He didn't even know if she was still alive.
But she had to! Chiara couldn't be dead, she mustn't!
He grit his teeth anew while he hurried out of the room, down the stairs and out the house.
"Fucking shit!", he hissed painfully the moment he stepped out on the street. He quickly squeezed his eyes tightly shut and lifted his hand to protect his eyes from the light of the first sunbeams of dawn. The sun fucking hurt his eyes! It was like the light was burning them.
He carefully opened his eyes, whereupon he squinted his eyes right afterwards again, so that he held them just a crack wide open. He needed some protection for his eyes or he was sure that he would claw them out any time soon. They burnt that badly.
He looked around him but he couldn't see one single shop, where he could find sunglasses or something else of the sort.
"Damn it..." While biting his bottom lip, he looked once again around him, before he started to walk down the street. There had to be a shop somewhere. And he had to find one fast or else he didn't know what he would do next.
He felt like shit. He felt unbearable hot, he was still dizzy, his whole body felt kind of sore and now his eyes burned and hurt like a bitch because of some frigging light! That had to be the worst day of his life.
He didn't know how much time had passed since he walked the streets aimlessly and half blind. He just knew that the sun has risen further and that he needed something for his eyes right now.
Just like someone heard his thoughts, he suddenly stumbled over something and tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Swearing under his breath he sat up slowly, only to sent a glare towards the thing that caused his fall afterwards.
"Son of a bitch...", he mumbled grumpily as he regarded the already rotting corpse of a man, that was lying in the middle of the street and had been the cause of his fall. The brown haired man paused as he spotted a baseball cap lying besides the corpse's head. It had a camouflage design in dark gray shades. That article of clothing was at least better than nothing.
He swiftly grabbed the baseball cap and put it on his head, before he pulled it deep into his face.
"Thanks, pal." He grinned halfheartedly as he petted the dead man's shoulder awkwardly, before he looked around him once again. Some meters away stood a car with an open driver's door. It seemed like that car had been the dead man's car.
Maybe he could find something useful in there. With a groan he stood up again and slowly walked over to the car, which windows were shattered. Not thinking about the pieces of broken glass on the ground the young man carelessly stepped on them, only to hiss out of pain right afterwards.
"Fuck!", he swore loudly as he stepped away from the car and sat down on the ground, so he could examine his feet.
His shoes were worn off and they weren't in their best condition anymore – and that was showing now. One piece of broken glass had pierced the sole of his shoe and was now stuck in his foot.
"Fucking great!", he hissed sarcastically, before he grabbed the broken piece of glass and carefully pulled on it. He swore anew as the piece broke off, so that he had to remove his shoe, which he threw carelessly to the side. It wasn't long until his sock followed the example of his shoe. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the rest of the broken piece of glass and yanked it out with one go.
He guessed he could forget his shoe now. Angry about it all he also removed his second shoe and sock and threw them also from him with more force than would have been necessary.
"Damn it!" A choked sob left his lips as he pulled the cloth, that smelled like his daughter, from his trouser pocket and pressed his face into the soft material. How was he supposed to find her?
But before he could have thought about that any longer he suddenly felt immense pain that brought him to tumble to the floor in a heap.
He couldn't help the raw scream that erupted from him as his whole body felt like it was on fire from the pain. What was going on now?!
He writhed on the ground while he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and just wished for it to be over. He couldn't hold back another scream as something cracked in his body and it seemed like something was moving inside of him. His fingertips, his whole mouth, his legs – just everything, really – hurt like hell.
At some point he thankfully blacked out from all the unbearable pain and he knew no more.
With a loud groan he opened his eyes slowly, only to stare directly into the sun. He immediately shrieked out of pain, before he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and hurriedly rolled onto his stomach, so that he would face the ground rather than the evil sun, that hurt his fucking eyes.
On impulse he lifted his hands to his face, determined to claw his own eyes out in oder to end the pain, as something stopped him from doing just that. His face was pressed against something surprisingly soft, what also smelled really good and familiar. He barely got a good whiff of the scent, as a picture of a grinning child flashed before his inner eyes. It was a little girl with ginger hair and grey-blue eyes.
Who was she? Was she prey? No, that didn't sound right in his head. He sniffed the cloth again. It smelled so familiar. He pondered on it for some seconds longer, before it struck him like a thunderbolt. His pup! That's right. That girl was his pup! She was his beloved pup!
He carefully opened his eyes again, so he could stare at the cloth that smelled like his pup. But where was his pup? Was she dead? No, she couldn't be dead, or could she?
He guessed there was just one way to find out. He had to track her down by her scent and see for himself. Determined what to do next he grabbed the cloth and slowly stood up on his two legs.
It felt strange to stand on two legs, so that he quickly fell back on all his fours. That felt a lot more natural.
He briefly looked around him. The damn sun still hurt his eyes, but this time he oppressed the urge to claw his own eyes out. He still needed his eyes in order to see his pup with his own eyes. He wanted to see her in real and not just in some memories.
Where to start? He intended to ask that question out loud but all his lips left were some growling noises. Fucking great, now he couldn't even talk anymore! Wait... since when had he even been able to talk?
He snarled out of frustration as his own thoughts just got him confused more than anything. He should just look for his pup and shouldn't think about anything else during that time. He could figure all of that out later on.