15A/N: Hey all, I'm back with a new Left 4 Dead story. Finally. I'm sorry for not updating, I just lost interest in writing for a little bit. But I'm trying to encourage myself in updating my stories, after almost...three years. Damn. This story is going to be a little different and I will not give up on it no matter how long it takes to finish. It may be stupid and may not make any sense to some but entertaining to others but it's what I enjoy doing. Making random, silly stories.
This one has multiple genres:
Humor/horror/friendship/adventure/family/hurt/comfort/suspense/drama/angst.
So, enjoy if this grabs your attention. And thanks for taking a look, hope you stick around until the end.
Disclaim: I do not own Left 4 Dead or the characters. It all belongs to Valve.
Claim: I own this story, plot, ideas and OCs.
This fanfic also contains the following: Dark and sensitive content, heavy swearing, dark humor, gore and some possible mild sexual content/suggestions. (Probably not, but still a warning if there is in the future).
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"FRANCIS!"
Zoey reached her hand up as she yelled his name, the fire escape staircase falling down from below her, taking the roaring Tank with it. Francis quickly reached down and grabbed a hold of her hand. They listened as the huge infected's body crashed into the concrete and crushing other infected. She dangled in the air for a moment longer, staring downwards, until the panting biker hoisted Zoey up and onto the roof. He sat against a brick wall while she crawled away and gazed up at the starry night sky as everyone worked to catch their breaths.
Louis then looked around slowly, silently, before a light laugh escaped him. "We made it...I can't believe we made it!" He exclaimed in joy, glancing at his fellow survivors and breaking the silence. "Son, we just crossed the street," Bill replied coolly, his back to the other three. The war veteran pulled out a packet of cigarettes and placed one between his lips. There was another moment of silence before he exhaled the smoke, "let's not throw a party till we're out of the city."
He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the ledge. Making sure not to be seen by the infected on the other side of the building they managed to climb for the roof of after alerting a horde. Bill grimly stared down at them as Louis frowned, remembering they were still far from safety. He winced at the wounds a Hunter inflicted on him before hoisting himself to his feet and quietly joined Bill's side, also looking down at the seemingly never ending dangers that awaited them.
"So...what do you suppose we do?"
The two conversed while Zoey looked over at Francis who hasn't moved from his spot. The back of his head rested against the wall, his eyes closed.
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly.
Francis swallowed before nodding. "Yeah, I'm alright. And you?" He opened his eyes to lock with hers.
"I'm fine. Tanks are fucking terrifying…"
"Heh," the biker smirked "they're just big, stupid and loud to me..." he reclosed his eyes. "I hate Tanks."
Zoey lightly chuckled at his famous quote. "That makes two of us."
"Alright Louis," Bill gave the analyst a quick pat on the back, "let's get those wounds of yours bandaged up. You're lucky Zoey got to you when she did." He led the way with Louis flinching and placing a hand against his bloodied, torn shirt. Following close behind. A cold breeze then wafted, Zoey got up as well and began to catch up when she stopped upon realizing she hadn't heard Francis do the same. She turned around. He was still sitting in the same position, a hand resting on his knee. He appeared lost in thought, his eyes focused on the concrete in front of him and full of worry. Snowflakes began to slowly and lightly drift down from the sky around them. In the short two weeks she has known him, Zoey learned when they got away from an attack like that, Francis would usually mock the infected and yell how unstoppable they are in that cocky attitude of his. But as of now and more recently, he hasn't done that.
"Hey."
He looked up at her.
She smirked back, "that big ole' brute scare you?"
His brow furrowed. "No! That was nothin'." He got up and walked with her, all evidence of worry in his face suddenly gone, replaced with the tough expression she had grown used to seeing once again. "Those damn things should run from me." She chuckled at the thought, Francis running after a sobbing Tank, shouting profanities at it and wielding his favorite auto shotgun into a sunset in the distance.
Francis rested said shotgun on his shoulder, lucky enough he was able to grab it again after the beast threw him into a brick wall; and it fell from his hands. He sighed and led the way down a set of stairs in pursuit of Bill and Louis. However Zoey couldn't help but wonder. She knew, though she didn't know what. But she knew something was bothering him. But the college student didn't bother to ask if he was alright again or to confirm if her suspicion was right, because all he would say was he was just fine.
"Ow! Hey, easy there ya know!" Louis exclaimed as Bill tightened heavy bandages over the cleaned, disinfected wounds. "Ah save yer sobbing for another day kid," the old man scoffed. "As I've said, you're damn lucky Zoey got to ya when she did." Louis sighed as he examined the gauze on his chest before looking to the only woman in their small group. "I know. Thank you Zoey." He smiled. Zoey nodded once as Bill packed the minimum medical supplies he found in a cabinet into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, then tossed a shirt he found shortly after rummaging through a lost and found box at Louis. "Do you have the energy to keep moving along, or do you want to rest here and continue on in the morning?" He asked the younger survivors.
"Honestly," Zoey began before a yawn escaped her "after that, I'd say we should rest for the night. Louis definitely needs it, and I'm guessing your old bones do too." She added as an attempt in humor. Bill lowered his head a little with his eyes still on her as a light scowl and she smiled warmly. "I'm only teasing," she said.
"I don't care." Francis shrugged from where he sat on a table, his arms crossed.
"Noted," Bill confirmed. "Everyone try to get a good night's rest. I'll keep an eye out."
"Old man, you need rest too." Francis started with a bit of annoyance in his gruff voice. Bill may be the oldest and the most experience out of all of them, since he was in the war in Vietnam. But the veteran always put them before himself it seemed and the biker wasn't a fan of it.
"I'll keep an eye out." He left his spot as Bill stared firmly at the large defiant man. "We'll take turns as we always have." Louis reminded as he examined more cabinets. He then gasped quite loudly and dramatically as Francis stood by a window just out of sight from whatever was outside. "Guys, I found my drugs!" He smiled in glee, pulling out a couple of painkiller bottles. One being tylenol and the other ibuprofen. Zoey looked over as she tried getting comfortable in a spot on the floor. "If you don't die from a mauling, you'll probably die from ODing."
"Hey!"
Francis laughed through his nose as Bill smiled from under his hat. Soon after barricading the room everyone had grown quiet. Louis snored lightly and Bill's hat hid his closed tired eyes. Zoey's back faced them all as Francis looked at his friends. He tugged off and hung his vest and fingerless gloves over a chair and kicked off his boots seeing it seemed silent and vacant outside. So they should be ok for the night. Although, he kept his gun close. Just in case.
A few hours passed. Zoey turned over on her other side and opened her eyes. They almost immediately focused on Francis. Quietly, she watched as he stood where she last saw him in a side view. He stared out the window, moonlight illuminated the room while raindrops streamed down the glass and made a light pit pit pit sound on the roof. His mouth closed with unblinking eyes concentrated yet full of deep worry again. From what she can tell. Before she could speak up to offer to switch positions, Francis rubbed his face and walked away from the window, muttering something under his breath out of her sight. Leaving a thought in her mind begging to be truthfully answered.
'What's wrong?...'
...
-Days later-
Zoey scanned the streets through the scope on her sniper rifle from the cover of the back of an overturned delivery truck. She picked off a few staggering infected, their blood spurted up into the air in thick and thin streams once their heads were blown off, and collapsed on the ground in a puddle of their own fluids. "Getting better at this kid," Bill praised. "Nice work."
He led the way after looking around once more. Taking caution if it was safe to go before motioning for the others to follow. They all quietly maneuvered through the streets. Quietly...until Francis' stomach growled noisily. "Augh...where can we get something to eat in this shit hole?" He started, "I'm starving!"
"We should have a little something one one of our bags if you wanna look," Louis offered. "Probably nothing I like. We gotta find some real food."
"Francis!" Bill hissed as Louis and Zoey sighed, "in times like these ya can't be picky with your food. So quit your bitching and grab something from one of our bags." Francis rolled his eyes and did as demanded. Louis offered him his bag to which he promptly reached his hand into and dug around. After a few seconds he pulled out a peanut butter granola bar and tore it open. He examined his surroundings while chewing greedily, until he spotted a market and pointed at the building with the granola bar. "We can probably find something in there you know."
"Alright fine," Bill replied when they all looked over at it. Everyone quickly made their way for the market. Some commons spotted the survivors and charged at them snarling, only to be cut down by Francis' machete and blasted away by Zoey's bullets. As they worked together in killing off their attackers while Bill and Louis searched around inside, Zoey did a double look at Francis while he wiped off blood staining his blade on a broken window frame they were about to climb through. He spotted her watching him, and she earned herself a confused look from the man.
"What?"
"Seeing you with a machete makes me think of Jason Voorhees."
"Um, why?"
"I don't know. Probably your built."
"Whatever that means," his stomach growled again. "God I'm hungry!"
"For once in your life, stop complaining. I beg of you." Bill pinched the bridge of his nose as they made their way further into the store. "I can't, I'm STARVING."
"Well then go get something," Bill grunted. He walked off in search of more small medical packs, cigarettes and other supplies. Louis raced over for the first aisle he saw. It contained bags of chips and pretzels. There wasn't much left in this store at all, however they would get by with what they could find. They could tell it's been ransacked many times, with shelves knocked over and broken. Blood decorated some parts of walls, wrappers and papers of all kinds littered the floor and shopping carts were either all dented up, pushed over or left forgotten and piled in corners. Broken glass from the coolers crunched under Francis' feet as he grabbed whatever he saw from either side of him and chucked them in his bag. Zoey took a water bottle from a cooler and chugged the liquid down quickly.
"Now I want to watch Friday The 13th. Thanks."
Zoey shrugged as she tossed the now empty bottle away. "Which one? There's like twenty of those movies."
"I prefer the 2009 remake. That was a good one."
"You don't like the original?"
"I hate the original."
"You hate everything."
"Not everything!" Francis defended, "almost everything. The original was boring."
"Ok, ok," Zoey lazily motioned her hand at him. They continued on and eventually ran into Louis who was working on chewing a mouthful of pretzels. Upon bumping into him he began coughing loudly, then leaned over and spat some pieces out onto the floor, making Francis stick his tongue out in disgust and Zoey went to slap his back hard a couple of times. Turning the coughing into full blown gagging. "Louis, try this technique called swallowing next time."
"I!-I thou!-" He continued coughing until Bill rounded the corner. He paused upon seeing this and sighed. "Are you alright?"
"Sure am." Louis finally managed to say, teary eyed after his coughing fit. "I thought for some reason Zoey was an infected and she scared the bejesus outta me."
"Well Goddamn I could hear you from the other side of the store!" The veteran shook his head, "dramatic coughing, slapping…just don't kill yourself by eating something."
He walked away as Louis straightened himself and Francis chuckled silently at the sight in amusement. "You good?" Zoey double checked, her eyes narrowed tensely at him. Louis put his thumb up with a smile, his lips pursed and eyes still watery. "I'm good," he placed a hand on his chest. "I'm good."
"We all set?" Bill called. The others checked over what they grabbed, and after they confirmed they did have everything they needed, gathered back together and started for the front of the store.
Zoey then heard Francis say something quietly from behind her, as Bill and Louis took the lead talking about what they should do while staying out of sight the best they could. She turned and saw his eyes were low.
"Francis?"
He didn't answer.
"Francis."
"...Yeah?"
"I've noticed you haven't been yourself lately. I know you're just going to say you're ok but I know you're lying. So I want you to tell me. What's bothering you?"
He watched her as they walked along before looking ahead. He thought of how to answer her question. There was a long moment of silence since he wasn't sure how to begin. He thought of just telling her it was nothing, although by now she has certainly noticed his odd quiet behavior a lot as the days went by. There was no use in lying or hiding it anymore.
"Zoey…I-"
He was cut off when suddenly everyone heard a single gunshot in the distance. Bill instantly held his fist up halfway and they all froze before pressing themselves against a building in a line. Listening intently, weapons ready, all stared in the direction ahead.
It was quiet again.
"That can only mean one thing…" Louis said with hope in his voice.
"But that don't mean they're friendly, and we could be outnumbered."
"We have a Francis."
"Wait, what?" The biker questioned.
"Shh!"
More silence. They waited for something to happen until a couple more shots echoed through the empty streets and ruined buildings. Bill grasped his gun with a look of seriousness in his eyes. "We should check it out. But stay out of sight while doing so at least." Zoey suggested. Bill contemplated the idea for a couple of moments, then nodded his head once. "Ok, but remember to stay outta sight if it's anything bad."
"No shit," Francis snarked. Only to be ignored.
They continued on in the direction they heard the gunfire. Dreading what they might find.
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A/N: Sorry for the dumb, boring chapter. It's what happens when ever I start a new story. But it'll get better! (I hope!) This story also takes place in 2019, not when the games came out. You know what I mean? But yeah, stay tuned if you like.
