Alfred is hopeless, therefore I will take the last dying seed of this blog and see if I can fix it. It also may give me some ambition to keep writing from where you're up to.
Lets see how it goes.
I give you the beginning of my Left 4 Dead fan fiction. Enjoy!
Walking through the withered remains of society, my
gun hand is steady. My flashlight hand, however, is quivering violently. I
pause, listening to my surroundings. I can hear sobbing. Witch. Almost
panicked, I switch the light off. The sobbing continues. Good. I look towards
the sound and see a crouched shape. I stop breathing and back up quietly. I
back out of the alley and into the main street, two blocks away I hear an
explosion and see light cast by fire. Right now, it is not of my concern.
Still, I am hypnotised by it. That is, until a car flies into the air. Tank. I
turn and run away from the wailing car alarms. My heart is racing. I
concentrate on it’s rushed thumping. Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.
I skid to a stop, throwing pebbles over the
asphalt. I’m panting. I bend over to catch my breath when I hear a low
growling. Shit. It’s a Hunter. I point my gun towards the growling. The Hunter
pounces and I shoot at the bloodied blue hood. I’ve missed, because the Hunter
crashes into me, (in the process I drop my gun) pins me and gets ready to rip
me to shreds. I raise my arms by instinct and squeeze my eyes shut. The ground
is vibrating softly. I’m not dead yet. I dare to open my eyes a crack just as
the Tank smashes its fist into the Hunter, sending it flying through a second
story window on the other side of the street. The Tank is raising its fists.
Will being crushed be more or less painful than being ripped to shreds? The
fist is coming down as something wraps itself around me and yanks me out from
under the Tank. God! Now what!? A Smoker is standing on a nearby balcony. I
feel my arms get pressed against my body. Stuck. I yell and kick, but the
situation is just getting worse and worse. Wait. I hear gunshots.
‘Hey!’ a gruff voice shouts. I turn my head as I
lift off the ground. The man who yelled is wearing a biker vest. He shoots the
Smoker in the head and runs up to me. I hit the ground and he grabs my wrist.
‘Run and gun!’ He yells, hands me an Assault rifle
and pulls another one off of his back. ‘Now!’ he grabs my wrist again and pulls
me away from the Tank. I stumble to my feet and turn, so I’m facing the Tank
and sprinting backwards. I shoot at it. An old man backs out of an alley and
throws a pipe bomb. Two people, a black man and a girl run out of the alley.
The girl sees the Tank, lights a Molotov and throws it.
‘Fire in the hole!’ she shouts. The Molotov
explodes on the Tanks face, making it roar. The biker grabs my shoulder.
‘Forget the gun, just run!’ The five of us sprint
towards a set of ladders with balconies on the side of a building. The black
man reaches it first and has his foot on the second rung when a shrill scream
fills the air. The girl shrieks as a Hunter lands on her. The black man is
shooting at the Hunter from the first balcony.
‘You two, up!’ the old man orders. I hesitate. The
biker grabs my wrist again and launches me into the ladder. I scramble up the
ladder without a second thought. I duck behind the black man and leap into the
next ladder, which I practically fly up. I sprint to the third one, climb up
and help the others onto the roof. The girl is limping slightly but otherwise
seems okay. The black man opens a door.
‘And just in here-‘ He closes the door quickly and
leans his back against it. ‘Lets not go
down there.’ The biker rolls his eyes. The old man pulls a cigarette butt out
of his mouth, throws it on the ground, steps on it, pulls out a new cigarette
and lights it. He then sits down and looks at me.
‘Who are you?’ he grunts.
‘Me?’ I say. I haven’t said anything for so long
that my voice sounds hoarse and unfamiliar. He nods.
‘Stephanie.’ I croak. I clear my throat. ‘Call me
Steph.’ Much better. I sound normal now. He nods again.
‘Bill. I hope you’re used to staring death in the
face every five minutes, because that’s life as we know it now.’ He says. Whoa,
downer much?
‘I’m Louis.’ the black man says, smiling.
‘Zoey.’ the girl says. She sits down and starts
bandaging herself. The biker holds his hand out.
‘The name’s Francis.’ I reach out and he shakes my
hand vigorously. ‘So, Steph, how’s your day been?’ he asks. I think for a
moment.
‘Well, in the last twenty minutes I’ve nearly
stepped on a Witch, been pounced on by a Hunter, crushed by a Tank and
swallowed by a Smoker. How has my day
been? Oh, now I remember. It sucked.’
‘Better get used to it, kid.’
‘I am used to it. Did I thank you for saving my
life back there?’
‘No.’
‘Good. Maybe I can surprise you sometime.’
‘Glad to see someone else here has a sense of
humour.’ We laugh and Louis strolls up to us.
‘You guys seen to be having a good time. Care to
share the joke?’ he says cheerfully. I look him up and down.
‘Is he always this… Chipper after a near death
situation?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s a shame.’
‘You think so too?’ we laugh again and Louis tried
to join in until Francis and I collectively scowl at him.
‘I’ll just leave you guys to it then.’ He says, his
hands raised in defence. Zoey stands up with a bandage wrapped around her left
calf.
‘So, Steph, how have you managed to survive so long
on your own?’ she asks.
‘With great difficulty.’
‘That’s how everything occurs nowadays.’ Bill
murmurs. Zoey yawns. Bill looks up at the moon.
‘Time to turn in. Louis, you seem spry, take the
first watch. Francis second and I’ll do last.’ Bill says. Zoey smiles and lies
down. I do the same. For a few seconds I think that trying to fall asleep is
futile but then my eyelids droop.
My eyes open. Day. Morning. I hear a groan and sit
up. Zoey is clutching her stomach. Phew.
‘How long is it since we last ate?’ she groans.
Louis laughs.
‘I can’t remember!’ He chuckles. Bill nods.
‘Okay kids, time to go shopping. Steph, this is
your test. If you can’t keep up, you’re going to be left behind.’ He says
decisively. I gulp quietly.
‘And by shopping,’ Francis says, cocking his rifle,
‘He means looting.’ I smile.
‘This is going to be fun.’
Francis, Bill, Louis and Zoey all lean over the
edge of the roof. I join them. Bill is pointing at a building.
‘That’s the place. We go down, get food, and come
right back.’ He says. I load a shotgun and grin across the roof at Francis. I
glance at Zoey getting ready and she tosses me a med-kit.
‘Thanks.’
‘Yeah, lets just hope you won’t need it.’ she says
in return. I open the kit and look at what’s inside. Damn, I could’ve used one
of these… A few minutes later I’m sliding down the ladder. I hit the ground and
face the street. Three Infected are running at me. I shoot the first two and
Louis picks off the third. I grunt in appreciation. He shrugs.
‘We’ve got to stick together in a zombie’s world,
right?’
‘They’re vampires.’ Francis mutters.
‘Zombies.’ Zoey, Bill and Louis say simultaneously.
Francis keeps grumbling as we cross the road. The automatic doors to the mall
won’t open, but that isn’t much of a problem seeing as they’re shattered
already. We each step through the glass carefully and walk into the mall. I
look around and see a distinct pattern in the architecture. The floor is
marble, and it’s splattered with blood. The pillars are marble covered in
plaster (you can tell from the holes in the plaster) and they’re splattered in
blood. Shop windows are cracked, broken and are splattered with blood. We walk
through the mall in silence, except for the obvious shooting of Infected. We
walk into the super market and Bill stops us.
‘Check use by dates on everything, get batteries
and matches.’ He says. I nod and immediately walk to the meat section, paying
attentive attention to levels of mould on everything. I see some lamb cutlets,
steaks and sausages. I pick up packets of things and start walking to the
matches. I pick up seven boxes of matches and shove them into my pockets. I
turn around and see a Boomer.
‘Boomer!’ I shout. I hear someone running up behind
me.
‘Don’t shoot until you have to.’ Zoey’s voice
whispers in my ears.
‘I know.’
‘Does it know we’re here?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Then why don’t we leave before it pukes on us?’
‘Great idea.’ We slide out of the aisle. We relax
and keep looking for food. We hear Bill’s voice.
‘Cut the horseshit, Francis and get your ass down
here.’ We hear Francis swear and I shrug. I look back down the aisle at the
Boomer, and see Francis stumble backwards into it.
‘Oh God…’ I mutter. The Boomer explodes, covering
Francis and Bill in bile.
‘Ah, shit!’ Francis shouts. ‘My vest!’
‘Get you’re head outta your ass, Francis, we got
bigger problems!’ Bill scowls. ‘If you hadn’t been foolin’ around, this
wouldn’t have happened!’
‘Don’t blame me! If you hadn’t startled me, I
wouldn’t have tripped!’
‘Are they like that all the time?’ I ask Zoey
quietly. She sighs and nods. Oh. That sucks. I walk to the entrance of the
super market and watch for Infected. I see one. Bam. Another. Hole in its head.
A third. I aim, but someone else gets there first. Louis is pointing a rifle at
the space where the zombie was.
‘A team can always use more members. Try not to
die.’ He says, reloading.
‘I wasn’t planning on it.’
‘Good.’ He holds the gun up again. ‘Look out, here
they come.’ The horde runs up and Louis, Zoey and I open fire on them.
Eventually I run out of bullets, and the Infected are getting closer. In a
flash I’ve pulled out two Magnum Pistols, and am firing again.
‘Reloadin’!’ I
hear Francis’ voice shout. I look over at him and shoot a zombie that’s about
to get him. He looks up with the loaded gun and sees the Infected fall in front
of him. I turn away
and keep shooting. God, they just don't stop! Zoey pulls put a pipe bomb.
'Take cover!' she shouts, tossing it. As
she runs into a nearby store, each of us rush to do the same; with me ending up
in an abandoned pawn shop. I hear the explosion come from outside and I peek
through the window. An Infected crashes through the window, and gets up slowly
behind me. I hold the guns up at it, and pull the triggers of both. Nothing
happens.
'Ah...Shit...' I throw the two pistols
at it and sprint through the shelves of the pawn shop, trying to find something
to whack it with. A nightstick catches my eye. Brilliant. I pick it up and
swing it around. The Infected crashes into the aisle behind me. I whirl and
crack the baton against its head. It groans, stumbles to the side and I bring
the Nightstick down on its forehead. The Infected collapses. I growl and turn.
I walk out of the store and run to the others. They've started shooting again.
I pick up my shotgun again and reload it quickly. I start shooting as well. The
Nightstick is hanging from my belt when an Infected grabs it and pulls me backwards
into it. It bites into my left shoulder.
'Agh!' I shout. I flip the gun over the
back of my shoulder and shoot it.
'Cover me!' I yell. I kneel and wrap a
bandage around my shoulder. I stand up and start shooting again.
Eventually the Infected disperse and we
pick up our bags of food. Louis comes over.
'Are you okay? You look torn up pretty
bad.'
'I'm fine.' I grunt. I then glance at my
left shoulder and see the bloodied bandage. I conceal a wince and sling the bag
over my shoulder.
'Lets just back onto a roof and eat this
food.' I say. We jog to the street and climb up the ladders. I sit down and
empty my bag. The others do the same. All together we have bread, meat, a few
fruit, some clean water, eight boxes of matches and about fifty different sized
batteries. Bill bends over to get a fire going. I look at my shoulder again and
peel the blood-soaked bandage off. The hole in my arm is about half an inch
deep, and two inches wide. It's still bleeding. Zoey comes over and arches her
eyebrow.
'Not much of a complainer, are you?' she
asks.
'Never really saw the point, to be
honest.' I say with gritted teeth. If you ever get a hole in yourself, try and
make it somewhere you can reach easily.
'Do you want some help?'
'No, I think I'll just struggle a little
while longer.' I scowl. She rolls her eyes and starts bandaging my shoulder
tightly.
'Thanks.'
'No need.' she finishes wrapping the
bandage and knots the end. 'You ever been bitten before?'
'A few times. Figure I'm immune or
something.'
'Well you would've turned by now if you
weren't.'
'Good point.' I look over at Bill. 'He
doesn't like me very much.' I say, nodding towards him.
'He doesn't like anyone very much.'
'Then why'd he stick with you?'
'No idea. But he refuses to leave us
behind now.'
'We wouldn't last five minutes without
Bill.' Louis adds, chiming in. Francis snorts.
'Its true.' Zoey says. I sniff and smell cooking meat.
My stomach rumbles. Well, I think it's my stomach. It could've been Zoey's. I
stand up.
'My stomach is calling.' I say, then sit down by the
fire. Francis sits on my left, Louis on my right. Bill has set up a spit of
some sort. I'm not quite sure how he did it, because there's a platter above
the fire, which is turning as he rotates a handle. How did he do that? Well, it
works. I think I'll ask him.
'Bill, how did you rig this up?'
'You learn a lot of things at war, kid.' he says. War?
That would explain his uniform. After a few minutes the food is ready, and each
of us has a lamb cutlet to eat.
'What happens now? Do we stay here until we get eaten
or do we have somewhere to escape to?' I ask.
'We're heading for the airfield. They have planes
taking survivors away, but there aren't many left. So, we are in a hurry.' Bill
grunts. I've finished my meat and have started gnawing on the bone. Bad habit.
'So... We're blitzing through the city to fly away?'
'Is there a problem with that?' Bill says. I stop
slouching and shake my head.
'Good. Speaking of which, we need to get going.
Everyone ready?' Bill asks. Everyone nods and stands up. I pick up an Assault
rifle and a Combat shotgun. I weigh the pros and cons of both inside my head,
and put the Assault rifle down. It just isn't my style. I slide a Magnum pistol
into a loop of my jeans, so it's resting on my right hip. I see another and
slip into the opposite loop, against my left hip. I put spare ammunition into
my pockets, something that I neglected to do last time. I look at the
Nightstick that I had acquired. Where do I keep it?
'Put the handle through the loop on the back of your
pants.' Louis says.
'...Thanks.' I say, doing what he suggested. And now,
I feel fully equipped. I see another Combat shotgun on the ground. I pick it
up. I hold one in each hand and rest the butts against my waist. Now I feel
fully equipped. We walk through the streets in silence. The Infected are less
excitable during they day, so we can walk wherever, just so long as we don’t
make too much noise. Ugh… I hate walking. The Infected probably hate it more
though. I wonder what it’d be like to be an Infected. Sometimes you see them
doing the strangest things. The other day I was looking for bullets. I walked
into a room and saw an Infected. It was under a table, reaching out for
something. I bent over to see what it was reaching for. I can’t be sure, but it
looked like an ear. But it was moving. Where was I? Oh yeah.
‘Man oh man, how I hate walking.’
‘Me too.’ Francis bleats. Zoey, who is in front of us,
looks back and scowls.
‘Don’t get Francis started on hating things, Steph,
it’s the best for everyone.’
‘Hey!’
‘Shut up Francis.’ Bill says gruffly.
