Hello everyone!
Yeah, yeah. I know, the last update was a long time ago. But like I said, I was busy. (Sometimes I hate school...)
Anyway! I hope someone even still reads this thing X'D And I really hope that my english didn't suffer too much, because of the long break. I guess we will have to find out, no?!
Sooo~ Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead isn't mine, but my OCs are.
Chapter 11_Shopping trip
The little girl was sleeping peacefully as something suddenly seemed to tickle her small nose. Grumbling quietly to herself she slowly opened her eyes, only to be greeted by the bright sunlight, that was shining directly in her face.
Chiara promptly shut her eyes again, which stung a little because of the sudden light, and turned around on her side – away from the offending light.
A quite noise from beside her brought the five year old to open her eyes again and to look up.
"Morning Daddy", she mumbled sleepily with a big smile on her face, whereupon her daddy purred quietly in response and nuzzled her face with his nose. The little girl couldn't help herself but to giggle slightly about the gesture, before she remembered the happenings from the day before.
She immediately sat up and looked around the room, but no matter where and how hard she looked, she couldn't spot the small hunter in the dark red hoodie anywhere. It seemed that Shark wasn't back yet.
Chiara's face fell upon this realization and she sighed deeply. She still didn't understand why Shark had run away in the first place. The only thing she knew for certain was the fact that she wanted the small hunter back. He was a part of her family too now.
The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as her daddy mewled lowly in a questioning fashion and nudged her carefully in order to gain her attention.
"It's nothing. I'm good", the little girl tried to assure her father while she gave him a sad looking smile – even though her daddy looked anything else but convinced.
A sudden growl form her stomach interrupted the silence that had started to linger in the bedroom. Chiara looked a little bit surprised at her stomach, before she laughed quietly and climbed from the bed.
"I guess it's breakfast time!", exclaimed the five year old with a faked smile on her lips, in the attempt to lighten the mood – even though she wasn't fooling anyone, not even herself.
Sighing quietly again she slowly walked out of the bedroom, only to stop in her tracks as her eyes spotted a very familiar figure on the couch. She couldn't help the big smile that appeared nearly immediately on her face, as she motionlessly stared at the figure, before she snapped herself out of her slight daze.
"Shark! You're back!", the little girl cried happily, while she flung herself at the small hunter and clung tightly to Shark, who in response promptly jerked awake and snarled warningly out of reflex, before he seemed to realize what exactly was hanging from his neck like it was a lifeline.
The small hunter blinked several times and cocked his head, as he stared confused at the five year old, who in return just tightened her arms around his neck.
"Where were you? Why did you run away? Don't do it again!", Chiara demanded loudly, even though her voice came out muffled because her face was still pressed into Shark's dirty red hoodie.
The hunter whined lowly and slowly – like he was hesitant to touch her – raised his arms to wrap them carefully around her small body.
While Chiara just relished the warm body heat and the presence of the hunter in the dark red hoodie for a moment, she was missing the glaring contest between Shark and her daddy, who had followed her out of the bedroom and was now staring disapprovingly at the view before him. But even though the bigger hunter looked anything but pleased he wasn't doing a thing about it – just accepting it grimly it seemed.
The tense silence was once again interrupted by Chiara's angry growling stomach, who chuckled lightly and reluctantly let go of Shark's neck, so that the small hunter could put her down again.
But to her surprise that wasn't what the small hunter did next. Instead he climbed off the couch and crawled over to the backpack, while he still held her pressed up against his chest with one arm. As he arrived at the backpack he used his other free arm to pull a can full of some fruits out of it, before he finally put her down, opened the can with one of his claws and handed her the can over, so she could take it and eat from it.
"Thank you Shark." With a happy smile on her face the little girl took the can from the hunter's hands and plunged her hand into the sticky stuff in the can, before she stuffed a handful in her mouth.
She briefly looked at her daddy as he snorted loudly, while he watched her eating. Chiara just shrugged carelessly and gave her father a big toothy grin, before she continued to eat the sticky fruits.
It wasn't long before the can was empty and her stomach decided to finally keep quiet. While the five year old licked her sticky fingers clean, she thoughtfully looked between the backpack, her daddy and Shark back and forth.
If she wasn't wrong then the meat that was left wouldn't suffice for the two hunters in the room. Just to be really sure she quickly searched through the contents of the backpack, only to come up with one can full of meat. She hadn't realized that she had taken so much cans full of fruits and so little cans of meat when they had been in the supermarket.
"That could be a problem...", the five year old mumbled quietly to herself, before she looked up from the can in her hands and instead regarded the two hunters in the room.
She didn't know if her daddy had eaten anything since he was a hunter and she wasn't too sure when the last time was when Shark had eaten something – maybe two days ago or so?
"I guess you two have to share", exclaimed Chiara suddenly out loud while she held the can up, so that both hunters had a good look at it.
At first neither of the two hunters made an attempt to grab the can, instead they were just staring at it. While her daddy looked somewhat thoughtful, Shark just seemed to be confused and unsure about the whole situation. It really would have been much easier when Shark could have understood her language like her daddy could. But it seemed like it couldn't be helped.
At last her daddy finally crawled closer to her and stretched his arm out in order to grab the can. Chiara couldn't help but notice that the motion didn't seem to hurt the big hunter. Did that mean that his shoulder – which gave him some troubles just the day before – had already healed?
The little girl cocked her head slightly as she tried to look closer at her daddy's shoulder. She wasn't a doctor by any means, but the wound, that was half covered by the fabric of the t-shirt her daddy was wearing, didn't look that good to her. It could have been looking somewhat better than the day before, but she wasn't too sure about that.
The five year old pondered about it some seconds longer, before she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a halfhearted sounding growl.
She quickly looked over at Shark whose mouth was forming a snarl, but was apparently trying to keep his growling to a minimum. Slowly she followed the small hunter's line of sight, only to see her daddy with the can full of meat in his hands.
Strange... Chiara would have guessed that Shark would react more violently and probably lunge himself at her daddy – like he had done the day before – rather than just to sit there while he stared and growled.
Was the small hunter holding himself back for her sake? It couldn't be, or could it?
The five year old was once again pulled out of her thoughts as her daddy opened the can with one of his claws and started to eat some of the meat, whereupon she could have sworn that she saw Shark clenching his fists out of the corner of her eyes. Should she be worried?
But it seemed like there was no reason for that, as her daddy suddenly stretched his arm out and held the now half-full can of meat in front of Shark's face, who seemed to be really surprised about the offer.
As the smaller hunter was still just staring at the food after some seconds, her daddy growled somewhat impatiently, before he shook the can a little in his hands.
Finally Shark reached up and took the can from the bigger hunter's hand, while his facial features changed from surprise to suspicion.
Chiara didn't quite understand why Shark was reacting and acting like that. There was no reason for any mistrust in her opinion. What was so suspicious about sharing food anyway?
At first the hunter in the dark red hoodie still seemed hesitant, before he eventually started to wolf the meat down like someone could take it away from him again.
Not til the can was completely empty did Shark stop. Chiara watched how the small hunter licked his lips and dropped the can carelessly to the ground, while a satisfied smile was shown on his face.
It seemed like the hunter in the dark red hoodie wasn't in a bad mood anymore. That fact brought the little girl to smile happily, before a hissing noise from her father attracted her attention.
She quickly turned her head, only to see her daddy holding one of his hands in front of his eyes, which he was squinting. The light of the morning sun was shining directly into his face through one of the windows.
"Where is your cap?", the little girl asked immediately after she noticed that the baseball cap was missing on top of her daddy's head. The last time she checked he still had it on.
The hunter in the brown shirt looked at first at his daughter, before he turned his head in the direction of the bedroom and pointed at the doorframe of said room.
Before anyone could have said or done anything else, the little girl nodded swiftly and ran into the bedroom, where she spotted the article of clothing on the floor near the bed. She quickly picked it up, whereupon she paused and stared at it.
She supposed that it fell off while they had been sleeping or when Shark had tackled her father. Which one was the case wasn't really the issue though. Her daddy really needed something else beside the baseball cap to protect his eyes from the sun.
"Well... then I know what we will do today", Chiara mumbled to herself, before she turned around and returned to the living room.
She stepped up to the two hunters and was about to give her father the baseball cap back, before she paused in her movements as she noticed Shark's intense stare.
"That's a cap!", she exclaimed with a quiet laugh, whereupon the small hunter just cocked his head out of confusion.
"Cap", she repeated the definition again, while she pointed at said article of clothing in her hands.
"Chhh..wwmm... Chaaw... Chap." Amused about the more or less succesful attempts to say the word Chiara could just giggle about it, before she nodded slightly and gave the hunter an encouraging smile.
"Here, for you!" With these words the little girl turned to her father again and gave him the baseball cap back, that her daddy took, before he put it on his head and pulled the cap deep into his face.
"You need some other clothes!", the little girl proclaimed matter of fact as she looked her father once more over, only to notice how the bigger hunter was still squinting his eyes a bit.
"So, we will go shopping!", Chiara exclaimed, while she pointed meaningfully at the broken window in the living room to signal that she wanted to go now.
Her daddy nodded slightly with a quiet growl, as he reached for the little girl and picked her up from the floor. She promptly wrapped her thin arms around the hunter's neck, so that she had a good grip on him.
At first her daddy seemed a little bit hesitant to just jump out of the window like that. But after a quick glance to his daughter, who was giving him an encouraging smile, he finally leaped out of the window. The landing on a nearby rooftop was still a bit rough, since the hunter in the brown shirt could only use three of his four limbs.
Chiara noticed with glee that her father's shoulder really didn't seem to bother him anymore. At least she hadn't heard some noise of pain from him nor had she seen that he had grimaced out of pain.
The little girl turned her head as she heard a thump right next to them, only to come face to face with Shark, who was staring at her – or more precisely at her head – disapprovingly. The five year old immediately knew what the problem was, but before she could have done anything herself, the small hunter reached up, grabbed her hood and pulled the blue material over her head.
"Thanks", she mumbled, amused about the hunter's fixation of her hood.
Because the five year old didn't know where they could find a clothes shop in this city, she decided to let her daddy handle the matter, who was silently looking around them. After some time the bigger hunter finally moved again. He swiftly leaped from one rooftop to another one, while he held Chiara in one arm.
Shark was following them closely, even though the little girl was pretty sure that the small hunter didn't really know what exactly was going on, if his displeased but still confused face was anything to go by.
The five year old looked up again as her father suddenly stopped in his tracks. She quickly spotted the reason for that below in the streets. A clothes shop! Hopefully they could find in there what they were looking for.
Her daddy jumped swiftly from the roof, so that he landed just some meters away from the entrance of the shop – closely followed by Shark.
The bigger hunter was about to crawl closer to the entrance of the building, as the smaller hunter stopped him shortly by grabbing his arm firmly. Her father cocked his head slightly and growled lowly, while he looked back at the other hunter, who was snarling furiously.
At first Chiara didn't understand what the problem was, until she noticed that the hunter in the dark red hoodie was sniffing the air.
Did that mean that some of the bad people were near?
The little girl couldn't help herself but to get nervous and a little bit scared about that possibility, so that she unconsciously tightened her grip around her father's neck. Her daddy immediately started to purr very quietly, in an attempt to calm her somewhat down, while he also started to smell the air.
But whatever Shark could smell, her father could not. The bigger hunter stopped with the task of sniffing, before he looked at the small hunter questioningly.
Shark was still looking around them and smelling the air and even though his snarling had decreased he was still growling uneasily.
Not until her daddy reached out and carefully touched the smaller hunter's shoulder, did Shark snap out of it. His growling stopped altogether, before he turned his head very slowly towards her and her father.
Before Chiara could have even asked what the matter was – even though Shark wouldn't have understood a word of it – the small hunter grabbed her father's arm again and practically dragged the two of them forcefully through the entrance into the clothes shop.
They barely stepped over the door sill, as Shark suddenly let go of her father's arm and instead leaped on top of one of the counters with the cash registers on top, behind that one of the bad people seemed to be stuck somehow. The man – he was wearing some kind of uniform that revealed that he had been working in this shop once – moaned and growled loudly, while he clawed for the new company he now had.
The small hunter swiftly struck out and slit the man's throat open with his claws, whereupon the already rotting throat couldn't hold the weight of the head on top of it any longer, so that the appendage slipped off and landed with a wet sounding thump on the floor.
Chiara cringed as she heard that terrible sound, while her father promptly grabbed her head gently and turned it away from the sight.
Had Shark been so alert before because of that man? The little girl honestly doubted that. The small hunter wouldn't have reacted so furiously outside of the shop if it really would have been because of that one common. So what else was out there that was making Shark so uneasy?
Not until the little girl felt a hand on top of her head did she look up again, only to look directly into Shark's face. The hunter tried to give her a reassuring smile, while he nodded slightly and pointed to the back of the room. She supposed that that meant that the shop was as safe as it could be.
"You can put me down, daddy", she informed her father, who seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he slowly put her down on the floor.
With one last shaky smile directed at her father, the little girl turned around and walked over to all the clothes racks.
On the first one she could only find some T-shirts. No luck there.
Shirts, pants, skirts, scarfs, socks, underwear. Everything was there but not that special article of clothing she was looking for!
Chiara sighed loudly as she turned around again to inform her father about it.
Her daddy sat on his haunches just some meters away from her and was watching her with a kind smile on his face, while Shark was still at the entrance of the shop, where he paced up and down. It seemed like something was still making the small hunter agitated.
The five year old had already opened her mouth to speak, as she paused and instead looked over to another clothes rack, that was partly hidden behind some shelves. Wasn't that...?
She swiftly ran over to it to have a closer look, whereupon she saw that it wasn't exactly what she wanted. It wasn't a hoodie. It was a black sleeveless vest with a hood attached to it.
Well, she guessed that that had to do for now.
"Daddy! I found something!", she called her father, who cocked his head a little, before he crawled over to her.
"Look, that vest over here." Chiara pointed at said article of clothing, whereupon her father reached up and took the vest from the clothes rack.
Without any further instructions the bigger hunter slipped his arms through the armholes, before he grabbed the hood and pulled the black material over his head, on top that he was still wearing his baseball cap.
"Shouldn't you take the cap off?", the little girl asked as she regarded her daddy's new appearance.
But her father just shook his head, while he crawled over to a mirror, that was standing in the shop for customers, to inspect himself. He was still wearing dark blue pants, a dark brown shirt and a baseball cap with a camouflage design in dark grey shades – on top of that was now resting the hood of the black sleeveless vest. It didn't look bad in Chiara's opinion.
"What do you think, Shark?", the five year old asked loudly and pointed meaningfully at her daddy.
The small hunter perked up, as he heard his name, before he stopped his pacing and looked over to them. He slowly crawled closer to them, while he didn't take his one eye off of her father. He stopped next to the bigger hunter and reached out to grab the black vest, on that he pulled twice, before he let go again.
Chiara smiled as she saw the following nod and the toothy grin from Shark, who seemed to approve of her father's new article of clothing.
"Great! I guess we can go now", the five year old exclaimed, not daring to look over to the cash registers, as she suddenly remembered the headless man again. Because of the hunt for clothes she totally forgot the corpse.
With a soft purr her father picked her up and held her in one of his arms, before he looked at Shark and pointed at the entrance of the shop. Together the two hunters crawled between the clothes racks towards the big glass door of the clothes shop.
But as they arrived, a sudden loud peeping noise sounded. An alarm! Chiara quickly realized that the alarm normally sounded when someone tried to steal something from the shop. Automatically her gaze wandered to her father's new vest.
That wasn't good! Why did that thing even still work? She thought that pretty much everything in this world didn't work anymore.
The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard a loud shriek coupled with a lot of moaning, groaning and growling.
Chiara froze out of terror as she spotted the herd of bad people, who were running along the streets towards the shop they were in like crazy. She unknowingly tightened her grasp around her father's neck and pressed herself closer to the hunter.
And what now? She didn't want to die yet!
Cliffhanger! Again!
I know. I'm mean X'D And? Who can guess what made Shark so uneasy? I'm curious what you think ;)