Thread: L4D: Unexpected Circumstances

My first-ever L4D fanfic (I suck at making titles :/) I created after experimenting with the idea that the Infected may retain some humanity in them since it's never stated that they are actually zombies, and are really just living humans with a virus, so it could be possible. That, and I really wanted to write a L4D fic. Now after some hardcore revisions, I uploaded it to FF and here. (Tbh, I was a bit nervous to put it up on here (dunno why; s'just how I am I suppose), but a good friend of mine reassured me.)

SUMMARY ON FF: Follow the original Survivors, plus three more, as they struggle to make it through the zombie apocalypse while overcoming many unexpected obstacles along the way. Appearances by the L4D2 cast later on with each campaign consisting of a different plot.

Also, this story contains OCs. I tried to make them as not, 'Ugh.' as possible, but if I didn't succeed, then I apologize profoundly.

DISCLAIMER: Valve owns Left 4 Dead and all its respective characters; if I owned it, Bill wouldn't have died.

Chapter 1

Memorable Survivor Quote: "When things go back to normal, Zoey, Bill, I'm giving you both jobs. Francis, I'm gonna teach yo ass how to read." ~Louis

When the first cases of the coughs and sneezes showed up, he could never have predicted how quickly it would take over. The city he once knew with its bustling streets now closely resembled that of a horror movie. There was no one now; the lucky ones had managed to escape the city as the Infection spread. The unlucky ones mutated into decaying life forms, figurative zombies with a lust for gore. Unlike the zombies in the old school horror movies, these didn't want to eat brains. They had only one goal: To massacre people, dismember the bodies, and literally paint the streets red. That's all they wanted to do, and judging how many were crawling around, it wouldn't take them long to dispose of a single, unfortunate person.

He had never believed zombies were real, he just thought they were make-believe things like vampires and wizards. The first time he had seen an Infected, it was covered with blood, making guttural sounds that sounded neither human nor animal, and it had run for him with inhumanly speed, its yellow pupils gleaming at the chance of mutilating someone. Before, he could walk around without fear, but now he couldn't take two steps without glancing over his shoulder.

These Infected scared him, but not even the fear would let him admit defeat. He was either going to survive or drag a bunch of those damn zombies down with him. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a loud humming rang in his ears. Awe-struck, he listened intently to the words that would bring hope for him and his companions as a helicopter whizzed by.

"To anyone who can hear this, proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation! Repeat: Proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation!"

Mercy Hospital? he wondered, blinking raindrops from his eyelashes. Why couldn't they have picked us up here?

"Hey Luigi, are you there?"

Startled, he watched a hand waving wildly in his face. He whipped out his own hand to catch the other.

"I'm here, William. Did you see the helicopter? It said to go to Mercy Hospital." he told his older brother. William wore a red shirt with plain blue jeans and black-and-white Vanz. The bangs of his brown hair were spiked up, showing off his dark blue eyes and face sketched into seriousness. Before the Infection, William used to be laidback and happy, but now he was contemplative all the time.

The older nodded. "I heard it, we all did." He gestured over to a table. "Look, Bill found some guns, ammo, and med packs on that table. Hurry up and grab something, we're leaving asap."

Luigi nodded and hurried over to the table. He inspected the items closely before grabbing some ammo and shoving the shells into his pant pocket. Along with that, he grabbed the last med kit.

Time for guns, my favorite part! He locked his bright blue gaze on the submachine gun and pump shotgun. Settling with the submachine gun, he placed his pistol in the holster by his hip before taking the gun in his hand and loading it. He looked at his fellow companions and nodded to tell them he was ready.

"Alright let's do this!" Francis, a gruff biker with tattoos who believed himself to be indestructible, said.

Bill, an old war veteran with a commanding attitude, nodded and headed for the door that led into the obliterated apartment complex. Francis followed, eager to blow a few zombie heads off. Zoey, a young woman who liked to lift the group's spirits with jokes, walked after them with Louis, a soft-spoken business man, behind. Luigi hesitated and felt something beside him.

"Weegee, are you going to be okay?" William asked before smiling lightly and adding, "I won't let those things get you. I swear it."

Luigi smiled in return. "I'll be fine, William, just a little shaken up from earlier."

"I know right? That damn Tank almost killed us!"

"Boys are you coming?" Bill called to them, rather impatient.

Muttering an apology, Luigi scurried over with William behind. When they reached the group, Bill kicked open the door, turned on his flashlight, and cautiously stepped inside. Louis and the rest of the group followed, with Luigi hiding at the back of the pack.

An angry voice rattled behind him. "What's the hold up? You're not hurt, kid, so get a move on!" It was Francis.

Cursing the biker out silently, Luigi reluctantly walked into the apartment building and down the short flight of stairs, turning on his flashlight as he did so. He could see dead bodies; debris littered the ground and a few blood spots here and there. He felt sick at the sight of the bodies and blood and over-whelming horror took hold of his body.

The abandoned building really did look like a horror movie.

Quickly stepping over the bodies, he made his way into the kitchen. He heard Bill calling from ahead, "Take the subway tunnels to the hospital. There's a red line station not far from here." Spotting William, Luigi quickly scampered over and stayed close to his side as they walked past the living room, the tv was on but showing static. He heard Francis mumbling about hating something but he could have cared less.

"Why go to the subway tunnels?" he whispered to his brother. "Wouldn't it be easier to head to the hospital once we get into the streets?"

"Well, yeah, but I think Bill has a good idea." William responded. "The apartment complex we're in right now is located deep in the heart of the once-thriving metropolis of Fairfield–now overrun with hordes of infected. So I say we do what the old man tells us to do."

Luigi didn't reply. William looked at him sympathetically when he realized his brother was shivering uncontrollably. The teen wasn't really known for his courage, so it was understandable that he was scared.

"I wonder if the Infected can smell fear?" William wondered quietly.

"I wouldn't be surprised considering how much this pansy here is shaking!" Francis scoffed, overhearing.

Before Luigi could make a snide remark, Zoey glared at the biker from over her shoulder. "Cut it out Francis!" she snapped. "We're all scared, not just Luigi."

"Well, all of us except for you Francis." Louis said from further ahead.

The biker grumbled and took up his position at the rear again. The group of six Survivors left the living room behind and turned to go through an open door with Bill leading them confidently. Waiting at the end of the stairs was the unmistakable figure of an Infected. It growled, realizing their approach but was quickly silenced by Bill. The old man turned into a hallway and opened fire on one standing in a doorway of another room while Louis shot the other standing in another doorway. As they entered the room, three Infected were occupying it.

Bill, Louis, and Zoey quickly cleared the area. Luigi looked at another tv sitting on a drawer, hypnotized by the bright colors on the screen. He turned his head to see William making his way to a door on the left side of the room, a hole gouged through it.

The group made their way into the kitchen and through a hole in the wall leading to what seemed to be a former bedroom and another living room. Luigi jumped at every sound and nearly busted his ass slipping on a puddle of blood when a mouse skittered by. He hung his head while his teammates snickered, and picked himself off the floor. After dusting himself off, he raced after the others.

Soon, they reached a hole in the ground leading to a new room. Luigi had a bad feeling about what waited below, but didn't voice it. They were going to jump down whether he liked it or not; he didn't like it one bit.

Bill had already jumped down with Louis and Zoey behind. Before William could join them, the remaining three heard the sound they all dreaded. Luigi cursed.

"Looks like they're going to need some help." William leaped down to join the soon-to-happen fray.

"Let's kick some zombie ass!" Francis said, jumping down and leaving Luigi alone.

Why must this happen to me? He looked around fearfully, expecting Infected to come rushing at him any minute now. He held his gun close to his chest, the hilt jabbing painfully against his ribcage. This is not super special awesome!

Luigi briefly wondered if he should just stay up here while the others took care of the zombies below. It sounded like a plan only there were two flaws: 1) He would be a bad teammate and 2) The Infected kept on coming.

As he stood debating what he should do, he could hear the sounds of dying Infected and guns shooting. He brought up a hand to ruffle his wavy hair and grimaced. No way did he want to go down there and face those flesh-eating douchebags, but it seemed he had no other choice.

It was nice knowing me.

Taking a big gulp, Luigi closed his eyes and leapt down through the hole. The sounds of fighting were louder now and he was confused as to why he had stuck a soft landing. Wasn't the flooring supposed to be hard? Stupefied Luigi looked to see that he had jumped down right on an Infected and somehow killed it. Poor thing. He grew excited at this.

"Hey Willy!" Luigi called. "You can kill them Super Mario style!"

"That's great Weegee, but I'm too busy to try it out." William called back.

Still excited over his new discovery, Luigi failed to notice two Infected running towards him. Getting back to reality he readied his gun and shot them down. Pain exploded in his back and he whipped around to see three or five attacking him from behind.

"Cheapshots!" he spat, firing madly at them.

It was like a rainstorm: No matter how many he shot, more seemed to pour in like a torrential downpour. Already he was growing weak and could feel blood oozing from the claw marks they gave him. But as soon as the attack happened, it ended quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief and scurried after the others as they burst through the exit door. He heard a groaning noise and spotted the Boomer heading towards them.

He narrowed his eyes and aimed his gun at the Special Infected before firing. He heard in satisfaction the boom when said Infected died. Vomit denied!

"Nice shot!" William called, to which Luigi scratched the back of his head bashfully.

Bill took up the lead again as he led the way through the alleyways with Francis taking up the rear.

"Subway station is just around the corner." Louis informed them when the alleyways opened to the street.

Still wondering why they had to take the subway station, Luigi silently followed his companions as they navigated their way to the safe room. His watchful eyes spotted the Smoker way before it tried to capture Louis with its tongue and he killed it, observing the green smoke floating in the air.

"Pretty good for a kid." Francis commented, surprising him.

As he shot at two female Infected in his way, he could tell that the safe room was near. He turned to follow his fellow Survivors, but stopped dead when he heard a blood-curdling scream. Before he had a chance to flee the Hunter was already on him. He struggled vainly to free himself, but it was useless.

"Help me!" he screamed. Images flashed through his mind of feeling his abdomen being yanked open while blood and guts flew into the air, spilling around him like a grotesque rainfall. He grew thoroughly confused when he felt nothing and looked fearfully up at his attacker.

Though it had him pinned securely beneath it, the Hunter just stared at him. Time seemed to slow and only the two were isolated together. He stared right back, wondering if it just wanted to play a game and if he blinked then it would claw him apart for being the loser. While he studied the Hunter, what looked like grayish-green eyes gazed back at him, but he couldn't really tell because of the dark hood. Flashes of black, oily hair were reflected in the moonlight like muddy puddles.

A shower of bullets pelted past, ending him of his examination. He saw one bullet shell graze the Hunter's shoulder and it yelped in pain, releasing him and bundling away. The brown-haired boy quickly got to his feet and stared after the weird Infected.

How come it felt like he knew who that zombie was?

"You're not going anywhere you sweatshirt wearing wuss." Francis growled, raising his gun at the retreating assailant.

Gasping, Luigi acted on instinct and raced for the biker. "No! Don't shoot it!" he yelled, swiping the gun out of Francis' hand and onto the ground.

Pissed, the biker glared venomously at him as he bent down to retrieve the gun. Luigi didn't notice because he was too busy watching the Hunter disappear into the shadows. William raced to Luigi's side, worry etched into face.

"Little bro, you okay?" he asked, toying with the top sleeve of his shirt.

Luigi didn't reply. I know those grayish-green eyes and that black hair. Is it possible that...No. He's dead.

But what of instead of dying, he got turned into one of those things?

Well, there it was. I hoped you enjoyed it. Ch. 2 will be uploaded whenever. Constructive feedback and criticism is always welcomed. I would love to hear it. ^^