Yo...So I am a liar and I never posted the Christmas edition to this story. Nor did I ever actually write it. So here you go, chapter seven instead. Yay. This is a more serious installment of the story, as we remember exactly what Divine has been running around the east with. Yay.

Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead or any brand names. Just my characters.

The Survivor's Guide to Surviving the Infection

Chapter 7: G is for Green Flu

It's all fun and games until someone remembers they're a disease ridden zombie.

One month, two weeks after first infection

Her boys were sick, and she didn't know what to do. Well, sicker than usual. The first snow of the impending winter season had arrived, and Divine and her Infected duo had taken shelter inside a house. And then Ryan started coughing, a lot. Hacking and wheezing violently, phlegm spraying everywhere after each cough, in colors of yellows, greens, and sometimes red. He breathed heavily, like some great stone was pressing down on his chest. Divine had cut out his tongue several times, trying to at least open his throat, but eventually gave up; it always grew back before she could even try and help him.

Zachary was a bit of a different story. The Hunter was listless, coughing to a lesser degree than Ryan. He had simply curled up into a tight, moaning ball of heat and sickness. Divine couldn't get him to play, to eat, nothing. Not even the sight of snow outside drove him to jump up and go investigate. It was like he had lost interest in the world and just couldn't care less about anything. This greatly worried the female survivor; she didn't know how to help them. They were always sick, the Infection made sure of that. But now? She wasn't sure if they had contracted anything else, wasn't sure if they could get sick with anything else but the Green Flu.

She had already torn apart the house's medicine cabinet, had poured every syrup and pill possible down their throats, enough to die of overdose. They either threw it back up, or it just didn't go through. Divine, for the first time since leaving her apartment, felt absolutely helpless. There was absolutely nothing she could do to help them. She wasn't a doctor; she couldn't tell what exactly was going on with them. She couldn't prescribe the right medicine or suggest the best ways to alleviate the symptoms. She was just a girl living under a false name in the zombie apocalypse, taking care of two of the most deadly zombies out there, treating them like they were just little kids in need of a mother to care for them.

Because that's what everyone did during these times, adopt bloodthirsty monsters.

…No, they weren't monsters. Divine knew she was doing a good job of bringing some sanity back to them, despite their tendencies to…act out in a zombie-like manner. But she was intent on keeping them at that level, and she needed to act, fast. So she tore through all the closets of the house, digging out winter wear and preparing for the trek down to the local drugstore.

"Guys, I'm going out. I'll be back…in a while. Hopefully. If I don't come back…nice knowing you" Divine told her boys while loading up her shotgun, her only responses were coughs and groans. She stood in the doorway of their room, staring at them, trying to memorize every little detail that she could see from where she was. And without another word, Divine turned, walked down the hall, out the door, and into the snow covered world of whatever town they were in.

It was a small town, with everything centered on one main road. Mostly Commons littered the streets, and she took care of them with blast from her gun. The drugstore was right across the street from her, and the survivor quickly made her way over. It was dark inside, so she flicked on her flashlight. As soon as she did, a feral cry sounded next to her, and something latched onto her back, kicking and beating at her. She screamed, dropping to the ground and trying to throw off her assailant. She threw her shotgun over her head, and the barrel hit something solid, and her attacker was stunned.

The survivor lurched forward, slipping out of the Infected's grasp, swinging her gun back around and boom, created a hole in the Common's body where its head used to be. Divine sat back to re-gain her breath, panting and gasping for air until her adrenaline levels went down. 'I hate Commons' she thought, slowly picking herself up off the ground. She went on to grab a bag from the register and shift through the isles, dumping this and that in, hoping something would at least beat down whatever virus her boys had.

But now she had a slightly smaller problem. She found the Band-Aids. And she was torn, Hello Kitty or Barbie? Divine stood and stared at the two boxes before her, and she didn't realize she had company until two pairs of clawed hands dangled over the shelf, hot air puffed into her face.

"Oh shit!" Divine shouted, backing up and slipping on something, causing her to land hard on her butt. "Owww" she moan, rubbing her bruised behind. Growly snickering reached her ears, and Divine looked up to give Greenie a glare. "Oh shut up! Don't do that to me!" Divine roared at him, picking up a small bottle of pills and launching it at his head. It flew right over him. The Hunter let out a choking sound, covering his face with a hand, his shoulder shaking.

"Stop laughing at me" Divine growled at him, getting back to her feet and snatching up her bag and gun. "Now good day to you, sir!"

She marched out of the store, giving the dead body of that Common that attacked her a good kick before exiting. Ohhhh god, it was cold outside. And it had started to snow. Any tracks she had made on the way there were probably covered up by now. But she went on anyway, following the road back down to the house. She managed to get down the street okay, the Commons were a little preoccupied. Either the cold was getting to them, and they stood in one place frozen, or, the snow itself was distracting. She stifled her laughs Divine caught sight of one slashing at the falling specks of ice, growling and hissing what it couldn't catch.

A while later, Divine found the small neighborhood the house was at but…the snow was covering everything up again and she couldn't tell which one was the right one.

"Crap, I'm lost" she whined, glancing at the dark houses, wishing she had at least left a light on when she left. Divine shivered in the cold, and decided she may as well start going door-to-door. But a growl made her freeze. "What now?" she asked, turning around to stare at her follower. Greenie growled at her again, then turned and headed for a house a few more down from where she stood. Oh.

Divine trailed after him, eventually recognizing everything the closer they got. She suddenly broke out into a sprint, slipping and sliding through the snow and kicked the door open she reached it. "Guys, I'm home!" she called, closing the door as a large shape slipped in before she could. Divine blinked, and continued to close the door. "Alright, but if you try to fight them, I will shoot you" she threatened as she walked down the hall to the bedroom. "Guys? Hey, I got so-"

Her words were cut off when something wet suddenly wrapped around her body and squeezed. "RYAN, IT'S ME! LET ME GO" Divine screeched, digging her heels into the floor and trying to keep the Smoker from pulling her forward. She heard a guttural groaning from the other side of the room, one that vibrated through the tongue snaked around her. Her eyes widened in fear; she had only heard that sound from other Smokers, ones that were hunting her. "Ryan, no, please, NO RYAN STOP IT" she wailed, struggling now as her body was inching closer and closer to the bed. "Zachary, make him stop, please!" Divine cried.

But nothing. The Hunter had been quiet the entire time. Both of them had been. Not anymore, though. Greenie screamed behind her, and the pressure of the tongue let up. The appendage slipped off her, and Divine sank to her knees. Gee, she sure had a thing for the floor today. Silence reigned over the bedroom, save for heavy breathing that came from everyone. And finally, oh god finally, a voice.

"Divine?" Ryan croaked, sounding confused.

"Yeah baby, it's me" she wheezed back. She didn't get off the floor, didn't even look up at him. Greenie brushed up against her, sniffing at her before finally giving her face a lick. A thump sounded across the floor, and the Hunter backed off. Moments later, tumored hands lifted up her head, and she stared into Ryan's face.

"I…I….I" the Smoker tried to speak, but worry etched across his face was all Divine needed to get the message.

"Go back to bed Ryan, you're sick" she told him dully.

"I'm always sick" he replied, but shakily let her go and crawled back over and into the bed. She followed him soon after that, dragging the medicine bag over. Divine spent the next couple minutes shoving pills and liquids down Ryan's throat. It actually stayed down this time. Getting Zachary to open up was a lot harder. She had to sit on him, pry his mouth open, and dump whatever she could in. As soon as she was off him, he just curled back up. He didn't throw up either.

Exhausted, Divine just let them be and headed into the living room, flopping down on the couch where she began to cry. 'What am I doing? He forgot who I was, he was going to kill me, he totally lost it back there' she sobbed in her mind. She was just lucky that Zachary hadn't followed in Ryan's footsteps and try and snap her hand off while it was in his mouth. And what would happen the next time she went into that room? Would their instincts take over again? Would her Hunter finally move to pounce her and rip her guts out? Would Ryan try and strangle her again She was scared, so very scared. Those two had become her best friends over the course of the Green Flu outbreak. To lose them now to the very sickness that turned them into what they were would be heartbreaking. It would all come down to her pulling the trigger on them. She doubted she could ever go through with it.

"Come on, get in here" Divine called out to Greenie through the open bathroom door. All the hot water the house probably had left was in the tub, and she wasn't about to let their newest addition to the team carry on without a bath. The Hunter poked his head in, nose flaring, and hesitantly scuttled in. "Alright, take it off. All of it" she instructed, pointing up and down his whole person. He didn't move.

"Fine, guess I'll do it for you" she groused, slowly reaching out with both hands to pull his sweatshirt off. He hissed at her, baring his teeth menacingly. "Then take it off yourself" Divine demanded, folding her arms over her chest. Greenie growled at her at her for a bit, eventually stopping when he was sure she wasn't moving any time soon. Ever so slowly and carefully, the Hunter worked his hoodie off. He got stuck halfway through, and Divine did have to reach out and help him.

She got it off in one tug, and stopped to stare at her not-so-mysterious-anymore stalker. His left eye was gone, just a bloodied mess where it was once. His right one, a dark amber color squeezed shut at the sudden light from above him. Divine dropped his sweatshirt and scooted over to him, gently taking a hold of his face and sliding his right eye back open. His pupil became a sharp slit, much like a cats. The whites of his eyes were black instead. He panted under her hands, and she let him go, the eye squeezing back shut, hiding from the light.

But she wasn't done looking at him , far from it. His face was covered in round dots, so Divine licked her thumb and wiped it across the dots. Grime was flicked off, and bright red shone through. Piercings. One at each end of his mouth, one at each eyebrow, and when Divine turned his head to the side, more jutted out of his ears. Oh.

Divine helped him out of the rest of his clothes and managed to get him in the tub. He didn't seem to mind the water as much as Zachary, but shook like he was freezing nonetheless. It was surprisingly quiet work, he didn't fuss too much, only growled when she rubbed him the wrong way. The water he sat in soon turned black, small bits of whatever she tore out of his hair floating on the surface. Soon enough, he was deemed clean, and Greenie crawled out, shaking his body out like a dog, Divine whining about him getting water everywhere.

But she grabbed the towels and wrapped them around him, then dropped one atop his head to act as a makeshift hood. His eye cracked open again. It looked up at her, and stared. "Yeah, I know I'm pretty" Divine said with a smile, reaching into the tub to drain the water out. She had to admit, she felt a lot better about what had transpired that day. After all, she got Greenie of all zombies in the tub.

He had short, dark brown hair that looked like it had gotten a bad cut last time he went to the barber. And his skin was more of a creamy mocha color mixed with gray than just the pale coloring of other Infected. And when Divine picked up his clothes to go wash them, she found his wallet in the butt pocket of his pants. Bingo!

Excited, she dropped everything and focused on just that. These new revelations were eye opening to say the least. Antonio Gonzalez, eyes brown, hair brown, age twenty-six. Hispanic, that explained the skin tone. But that was just his driver's license. Everything else in there squeezed Divine's heart. Pictures, of a little girl. She looked a lot like the Hunter Divine was sitting next to. Pictures of the girl when she was a baby, to probably now as a kid. Hell, there was even a small scrap of paper waded up with the cash. It read:

Josefina ama papa =)

Divine didn't speak a lot of Spanish, but she had a feeling about what the note said. "I'm so sorry, Antonio" she whispered to the Hunter. He didn't say anything. She flashed him a picture of his daughter. His head tilted in confusion, simply staring at the picture like it was some foreign object. "You don't know who she is….Antonio"

He glanced at her.

"Antonio"

He blinked, then looked around the bathroom. There was no one else there.

"That's your name, dumbass"

He looked back over at her. He didn't even realize she was talking to him. Figures.

"Yes you. Who the hell do you think I'm talking to?"

"….Callar" Antonio grumbled at her. Divine's jaw dropped.

"You can still speak Spanish?"

"Sí"

"This whole time?"

"Sí"

"And you didn't let me know this earlier because…."

"Estás presa estúpido"

"I am not stupid!"

All that above Spanish can be re-translated on Google Translate. So, we finally know Greenie's name, so give a big offical welcome to Antonio Gonzalez, or for short, just plain old Toni. Next chapter, we shall dive into the world of everyone's favorite hooded Infected in "H is for Hunter". So basically we'll have one big chap dedicated to Zachary and Antonio. Isn't that just exciting? Well, see you all next time! Hope you all had a wonderful winter holiday.