Left 4 Dead (Closed)

[IntriguedLover]

Vivi's screams could be heard from a distance away. We could only use our imaginations as we continued to run down the stairs to try and find an exit. There weren't any weapons anywhere and we needed guns. I looked around as there were papers flying as workers of the whole operation began to run. Zombies could be heard screaming as we turned our attention towards the noise.

"Fuck, we gotta find guns or we're going to be overrun!" I cried out.

"No fucking shit, sherlock!" Kate said, her arm held around Jackson as we heard the all too familiar sound of a Jockey. Jackson turned around only to have the little fucker jump him, yanking him out of Kate's reach. "Jackson!!!"

"Get it off! Get the little prick off!" he cried out, his hair being pulled at and his skin being scratched as the jockey pulled him away from us.

Ellis was beside himself, not sure of what to do. "Oh man, oh man!"

I looked to Kassie, to which she nodded. We jumped into action as we ran like a tag-team at Jackson, using our arms linked together to knock the Jockey off. It let go with a thud to the floor, stumbling backwards. Jackson crawled off, looking back, his bandaged hand leaving blood on the floor as Kate reached down to pick him up.

"Kill it!" I screamed as I kept punching at the Jockey. Kassie did the same thing, throwing her fists as it finally cried out, blood flying. The Jockey went limp on the floor.

"Oui! Oui! It worked better than I could have thought!" came the voice that we all had heard before. We turned our attention up to the balcony. "You all were pawns in our test and you passed!"

"Passed!? What the fuck are you spouting off?!" I screamed out, looking to Francois.

"Oh, you have seen it all. We can control them. Use them as weapons. Make them eliminate targets," Francois continued. "It just went according to plan."

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"What kind of plan is it to kill people?" I barked. "We needed these people. They're not pawns!"

"You fail to grasp the far objective," said the voice. "It's always noble to fight for your friends, family, people that you love, but you're no willing to sacrifice them for the greater good."

All of us gathered around in a tight circle. If there was one jockey, then there could be more, and I was worried about that Tank. We couldn't hear Vivi screaming anymore, which meant he was done with her and soon coming for one of us.

"We don't have time for this shit," Kassie spat. "You're just as sick at those things!" calling out into the darkness. "You say 'sacrifice' but what's going to stop them when there's nothing left to kill or eat? You can't control them! They're driven by their instincts."

"Forget him!" I called out to the others. "We're not going to stand here and listen to him monologue. We need weapons. When we get weapons, then we'll start clearing out this place." Turning to Edgar I asked, "Where do you keep your weapons?"

"This way!" leading down a long, narrow, hallway. "Follow me!"

 

[IntriguedLover]

The zombies were starting to break down the walls. It was only a matter of time before the place would be overrun. We had to get out of there.

Edgar led us down a corridor, loose and crackling wires fallen about that we had to dodge. No doubt from the Tank that had come through here with Vivi. That only meant that the bastard of a zombie would probably come back this way. The roar could be heard and it wasn't too far off either. "In here!" Edgar said as he fumbled around with a key only to have Jackson and Ellis push him aside, both of them rushing the door and pushing it down. "Or that works.." Edgar said in surprise.

"Ow.. ow ow ow.." Ellis said holding onto his shoulder. "Not this one too.." he said rolling it around. It was the one that had been hurt back when.

"Speak for yourself," Jackson said holding onto his hand and wrist.

Kate and Kassie rushed in, throwing guns to me. I checked the clips -- "They're full. Load up, be ready to go!" I yelled over the commotion to be heard.

Edgar stood at the door. "You have to take me with you.." he said.

"Why should we?" Jackson said, looking to him, an angry glare on his face.

Before Edgar could answer, he was grabbed by a smoker wrapping its tongue around him, the mutated appendage snapping Edgar's neck as it dragged him away before he could even scream. We looked away as we continued to load up on the weapons. There was a female's scream coming from outside the door.

Ellis ran out and bumped into an Indian woman in a dirtied lab coat. "Uhh.."

"Help me!" she cried out.

"Can you get us out of here and to the shore?" Kassie asked pushing past, guns on either shoulder and a pistol in her hand.

The woman looked at her wide eyed. "Yes! Yes! I can do that. I'm Dr. Anala Jhaveri out of Surat, India, but you can call me Ana.."

"Great, lead the way, Ana.." I said looking to her, pulling a grenade launcher across my shoulder and an M-16 in my hands, just as the roar of the Tank echoed closer.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

Sad about Edgar, but we didn't have time to cry for him. We gathered weapons and whatever else we could as Ana led us out of the lab. It was a running fight. We couldn't go out the front door as we watched as the infected snatched up the few workers that were left trying to flee.

"Damn him," Ana cursed as she took us in another direction, saying it was the parking garage. "Damn that Francois. He's a mad man."

"Well, if we see him, ma'am, we'll make sure to shoot him," Ellis smiled.

"Where are we going?" asked Kassie.

Ana paused for a moment so she could swipe her ID card for the lock. When it opened, she explained, "We have several vehicles down here. Some vans that will suit us. I think they have petrol in them."

"You think?" quipped Kate.

"I haven't been down here in a long time, okay?" Ana tartly replied.

There was no time to be bitter and think. We had to leave this place. It sounded like several Tanks were smashing their way towards us that the ground was trembling under our feet. We ran through the concrete jungle that was the garage, the power still worked here. There was the shrill of a Hunter stalking us.

"Where are they?" asked Kate.

"There!" yelled Ana pointing at two vans. Go figure, they were on the far end of the garage.

"There better be gas in it!" yelled Ellis, "Every time we need a vehicle, it doesn't have gas in it."

"Don't jinx us, stupid!" Jackson said slapping Ellis in the back of the head.

We reached the van, Ana fumbled in her lab coat and found and pulled out a handful of keys, "Sorry, I didn't know which ones were for the van so I took them all from the security guard."

Oh lord. There had to be forty keys in her hand and none of them were labelled. "How does he do it..." Ana muttered going through them.

"Form a perimeter!" I called out. We made a circle around the van, weapons tight as the power flickered but stayed on. "Keep your eyes open."

"Yeah, and don't shoot the cars," I heard a sailor reply.

POP!

WAWAWAWAWAWAAAAAAAAAAA!

"Oops" Ellis weakly said with his eyes wide and face pale. He had pulled the trigger and shot the car beside us. It had an alarm.

"You fucking retard!" Kate screamed.

 

[IntriguedLover]

I screamed out over the sound of the car alarm, "That's all we fucking need right now! Incoming!" The roar of the infected as they were coming, mixed with the various roars of the Tanks. My eardrums on the verge of bursting. I couldn't handle it anymore. "Work faster, sweetheart," I said moving closer to Ana. She was fumbling around with the keys, trying to find the one that was marked.

"I am! I'm trying!" she cried out, dropping the keys on the ground, bending down to pick them up in a rush.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Kassie shouted as she shot out the window of the van, another alarm going off. She knocked out the glass, reaching in to open the door via the lever - clearing the seat of glass as she went to work. She pulled the alarm wire cutting that off as we began to fire at the first infected that began to pour into the garage.

Kassie split the wires and began twisting others, thus the van coming to life. "All in!" she cried out.

Ellis kept firing with the riot shotgun as we moved to the back of the van, filing in. We were shoulder to shoulder yet again. "I can't keep 'em back!" he cried out.

"You don't need to!" I said grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him along. I got in the front seat, pulling out the pistols and busting caps of a few zombies as I pulled the door closed. "Gun it!"

Kassie nodded as she looked ahead, shifting into drive just as a chunk of concrete zoomed past the front of the van. Our eyes widened as she pressed on the gas giving it all she's got. "Fuck you!" she said flipping off the Tank as she turned up the ramp to lead out of the garage.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

The engine roared and we shot out of the place as the building began to shake then fall. The ground quaked. "What was that?" Kassie called as she looked back only seeing a spray of black.

"The building collapsed," I said able to look out the back of the van.

"Holy shit, really, dude?" Ellis said pressing his face against the same window.

That was it. We had lost the WHO and only got from it was one survivor. Ana was in tears. We didn't know where to go. Kassie kept driving and driving until she was satisfied that we were out of the danger area and found a small spot of land for us to pull over.

We dismounted to take stock of the situation. Ana tore herself away and fell to her knees crying. I hugged Zoey tightly, glad we got out of there. But I was deeply upset by everything. How could this happen to us? We made our mistakes. What do we do next?

"What were those things?" Ana asked between her cries.

"You mean Tanks?" Ellis spoke up. "Dude, they're huge. They're like gorillas and they hurl chunks of concrete..."

"Ellis!" several of us roared at the same time.

 

[IntriguedLover]

"I k-know what those are!" Ana cried out in response to Ellis. She looked to the rest of us. "But what the fuck are those?!" she said pointing out in front of the van, Kassie turning her head around to notice that there was a line of boomers in our path.

"Oh holy fuck!" Kassie cried out as pulled up her gun, but there was no chance. Not one, but three boomers burst ran up to us and burst. "Oh gross!"

"It's not just gross... We're gonna be surrounded!" I yelled as I heard the roar of several hundred infected coming down the road and the side streets. "Get in the fucking van!"

Everyone rushed but the zombies were coming. It was like they were fucking spawning out of nowhere. I climbed into the driver seat and shifted into drive.

"The van will flip.. The van will fucking flip!" Kate tried to reason.

"Then start shooting," I said turning to everyone. "Open the window, Robert and start mowing 'em down!"

 

[guyloveshotstories]

We ran gunned. Infected were coming out of the wood work and tearing ass after us. Ana cowered behind the seats, those that couldn't get to a window were handing up weapons to the shooters. It was dark and Kassie turned off the lights to the van to try and lose the creatures.

"I can't shoot straight!" someone called out.

"Well, I'm not slowing down!" Kassie shouted back.

Kate implored her to ease off as the van was top heavy, and at this speed a sharp turn would cause us to lose control, but Kassie was determined to get away as the interior of the van rang with the constant report of automatic weapons.

"Kassie, slow down!" we said, but her foot only remained on the floor. Then came a sudden turn, she didn't see it until the front wheels were on the shoulder, "Noooo!" she screamed trying to match the turn. Off we sailed into the darkness, there was a moment of weightless as the van turned and landed on its side.

We were tossed around like toys, banging off the walls as the van continued to roll and roll and roll. When would it end? When it finally rolled its last it leaned sharply to one side threatening to do it again only to pause and right itself. For a moment no one moved, then came some murmurs. "Is everyone all right?" I coughed.

"Yeah," muttered Ellis. The airbag deployed."

The airbag was Kate's chest. Lifting his head and seeing the Coastie there groaning, her eyes then opened and looked at the mechanic with surprise. "Hey..." Ellis smiled.

Scoffing, Kate rolled off of him and climbed out.

"Told you," spat Kate, "You're going too fat."

Fortunately there were no serious casualties, but we lost our ride and now didn't know where we were.

 

[IntriguedLover]

"Something's wrong!" Allisyn cried out jolting from a peaceful sleep, grasping her belly. The baby kicked and spurred around within her core as the young woman jumped up out of bed. She dashed out the door and ran down the hall, only to bump into Louis and Nick. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong. I can sense it. Ellis.. My Ellis.." she started sobbing. Her sobbing turned to groans as she fell to the floor before them grasping her abdomen.

"Holy shit! Doc, hey Doc! It's Allisyn!" Nick yelled out, a soldier rushing down the hall with a nurse.

"W-What's wrong with her?" the soldier asked, his hand on his gun, ready for something wrong.

"Man, put that gun away. She's pregnant, she's probably having the baby," Louis explained. "But wait, that can't be. You're only what - 4 1/2 months along?? Little Billy can't be coming that soon," the black man continued, counting on his fingers.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Allisyn cried out, getting on her hands and knees.

"Go get the Doctor! We're delivering a miracle into the world!" the nurse said shooing the soldier away as he turned to run down the hall.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

I climbed out of the van, my shoulder hurting a bit but I was fine. I was furious with Kassie. "Kassie!" I yelled out, I walked up to her, my mind fuming with anger. "We could have been killed."

"I had to get us away, I'm sorry. But I had to get us to safety," Kassie tried to reason with me.

"By getting us killed in the process?!"

"Stop it, both of you. We're safe --" Jackson said looking around, straining to see into the darkness. The flashlights were lost in the crash, only two attached to guns still worked. "--for now."

The roars of the zombies weren't being heard anymore. There weren't anymore roars from the Tanks or any zombies of any kind. "Where are we?" Ellis asked.

"I---I have no idea..." Ana said, looking around trying to find some sort of landmarker only to bump into something metal. "Shine..shine on this."

Ellis turned his gun up to what she was speaking of. It was the Eiffel Tower. "Whooaa," he said tilting his head up to look at it. In the darkness, it was an eerie sight because there was no lights at all around us.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"Holy shit, dude" Ellis gasped then smiled, "Shit. We made it into Paris faster than the Germans did!" only to be slapped in the back of the head by Jackson.

"This is not good" said Ana. "The city of Paris was declared 'off-limits' by the Government in exile".

"Wait. Exile?" Kassie coughed.

"Yes," the doctor nodded, "When the outbreak occurred, most of the governments initiated a plan to evacuate the key government officials, national treasures, and military to key sites and continue the fight against the infected from well fortified areas. Unfortunately, myself and my group were not able to evacuate. We thought that our facility would be able to keep them out and in while we continued to work on a way to fight the virus."

"Shit" I groaned. "So, the nearest French military outpost...?"

"Is over 100km away" Ana said.

"Fuck!" Kate exclaimed.

"Well, it's not all lost," I said, "We're alive," looking over at Kassie and then at Zoey. though Kassie was responsible, we couldn't stand here bickering and groaning. "Our next mission is to get back to England and report the mission failure. We have Ana, perhaps we can use her when we get back to England. Meantime, we need to find a place to hold up in, resupply, and get ourselves some new wheels."

For Allisyn, she was begging for death as the doctor and nurses came to her. "It's coming! The baby! It's too soon!"

The hospital staff couldn't understand it. They called for an ultrasound and found the fetus moving, but it wasn't registering a heart rate. "Is the machine broken?" asked one of the nurses as another tried to fix the machine.

"It shouldn't be. It's not that old" the other replied.

"Get this thing out of me!" screamed Allisyn, whose voice boomed down the hallways.

 

[IntriguedLover]

Rochelle and Francis were tightly snug against one another. Francis groaned a bit, a noise causing him a bit of distress. "Ahh, fuck off you screamer.." he said pulling Rochelle's ass tighter against his bare body. Rochelle groaned as she moved a bit.

"H-huh?" she mumbled, starting to wake up. Only when Allisyn's screams came from down the hall again did Rochelle's eyes shoot open. "Oh god! Francis! Francis! Let me go!" she said trying to pull away from him.

"Oh honey-bun, raring for more, huh?" he said beginning to grind into her.

Rochelle groaned. There was only one thing to do. "Francis, darling.. My mother is coming to visit. She'll be here in 5 minutes.."

"I'M UP!" Francis screamed out sitting up in a hurry, so quick in fact that Rochelle was thrown to the floor with a thud. Francis peered over the edge of the bed. "Uh...whattaya doin' down there?"

"It's Allisyn, she's screaming. I've got to get to her." Rochelle said pulling on her clothes and rushing out the door.

"Get it out of me! GET IT OUT!!!!!" Allisyn cried out again, her breathing erratic.

"There's no heartbeat. And she's not able to push.." the doctor said.

"Doctor, what do we do?!" the nurse asked in a rush to try and restrain Allisyn, Nick helping as well.

"Get me my O.R. kit, I've got to do a Cesarean..." the doctor replied.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

"Find a car with gas then. We've got to get back to Britain and tell the General what went on.." Ellis said repeating the plan that Kate had mentioned, moving his gun around to shine down the streets.

"That's all well and good, Ellis. But when we do, are we gonna let Kassie drive again?" I grunted turning to walk with him and Robert.

"Enough! I said I was sorry!" Kassie said going with Jackson and Kate since they had the other gun/flashlight combo.

"Who do I go with?" Ana asked turning her head to look at us all.

"Pick." Jackson said shrugging.

Ana couldn't make up her mind and walked down the street with us.

Ellis felt a sudden pang in his chest. "Something's wrong.." he said stopping in his tracks.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Allisyn. Something's up, I can just feel it, y'know.." he said adjusting his ballcap.

I shrugged and patted him on the back, giving him a smile. "It's okay, they're safe at the base. There's nothing to worry about." I continued to walk on ahead of him.

"Okay, if you say so, Zo.."

*** *** ***

"Don't rip my suit pocket!!" Nick screamed out trying to pull away from Allisyn, Louis wasn't having much luck either as he was being pulled by his tie.

"Hey! What's going on?!" Rochelle asked rushing in, a groggy Francis standing behind her.

"I'm removing the baby. Something has occurred," the doctor said giving Allisyn a slight sedative to cause her to go into a light sleep.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"A C-Section?" Francis asked. "What gives? The baby shouldn't be anywhere near ready to pop out of the oven."

"OOWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Allisyn wailed.

"We're going to have to put you under," said one of the nurses. The woman struggled to put the mask on Allisyn as the baby tried to fight its way out. Finally the screams died down and people began to appear outside the operating room.

"Ten bucks says that it's a girl" Francis smirked.

"Oh. You're on!" Louis laughed. "Ten says it's a girl"

"You boys are seriously betting while a woman suffers?" Rochelle scowled folding her arms in front of her chest.

For about an hour Allisyn was under the knife. The surgery was a success, but before the announcement was made as to the gender of the new baby, one of the nurses screamed and came running out of the room tearing off her mask.

"That's a first" Rochelle gasped.

The three of them stepped into the room. The doctor had his back towards them. Allisyn was still laid out on the bed, covered up and her mask still on. The remaining nurses and doctor had saucer wide eyes as the doctor turned around slowly holding the new bouncing baby...

"IT'S INFECTED!" Francis screamed.

It was purple with black eyes and it didn't have the full structure of a baby. Francis immediately held up a pistol and cocked it, "Doctor," he said slowly, "Put that...thing down, and step away."

Ellis wasn't feeling well. It was as if he could feel what she was suffering. The group found a place, a mechanics shop with apartments on top. The place was abandoned long ago, but it did have a lot of canned food, stuff that most of the American's couldn't read, but Ana could for them and there were a few vehicles that could still run and had petrol.

"We'll stay here for the night," I said. "I'll take the first watch. The rest of you, find a rack and get some rest."

 

[IntriguedLover]

"Deal," Ellis said crawling over to the floor and pulling a pillow from the couch, crashing right there, hat falling off of his head to his side. It was so much. He didn't know what was making him feel this way, but something was up. Something was up with his Allisyn. He just didn't know what.

I stayed near Robert for the time being while everyone went to find a place to rest. There was only the few of us left. But then again, there was usually only the few of us. Everyone else was usually dead or had left, or...I shook my mind free of Bill for the time being as I took a seat next to him. I placed my hand on Robert's leg as I looked to him.

"It's quiet. This is too eerie," I said looking out the window, trying to strain my eyes into the darkness. "Perhaps with the morning light we'll be able to see something. Anything that can get us back to the base." I turned to look at a sleeping Ellis on the floor, soft snores coming from him. "He senses something is up and now I'm concerned. What if the General did something to the rest of the crew?"

"Don't!" Rochelle cried out trying to pull Francis' arm away, trying to push the gun down.

"It's fucking infected, Ro! For fuck's sake! You've got to kill it or we might be killed ourselves!" Francis said, his angry glare looking down at her.

"It's just an infant! No teeth at all! What in the fuck can it do?! It's helpless!" she cried out.

Louis nodded his head. "I mean if it can't bite or move, it can't harm us.."

 

[guyloveshotstories]

Zoey and I found a small love seat, quite fitting for the two of us. "I know, but it's not something we can deal with right now," whispering to Zoey, we sat down and leaned against one another until our heads touched. "The only thing we need to focus on is here and now," touching her thigh. "Focus on the present and we'll get home. When we get to Britain, then we'll deal with the General and his flunkies."

I had to shake my head slightly to get the thought out of my head. So much infected, so much death, so much loss. Damn it. The only real success we had was getting Dr. Ana out of there. Now all hope hinged on her skills.

The Doctor found herself a corner in the room and curled up with a blanket. The others in our company did the same. It was quiet, it was tense. Any moment I expected to hear the howl of a horde or the roar of a Tank, but it didn't come. The silence was even worse than a horde.

"What the fuck is the difference?!" cried Francis. "Any other infected we see, we kill it. What's so different about this one? It's a baby? It will grow and I don't want to keep one eye open in this base knowing that this...THING...is crawling around."

"We'll keep it contained. They have something we can put it in," Rochelle replied.

Francis scoffed looking at her with a scowl, "Yeah, and knowing our luck, it will get out. THEY ALWAYS GET OUT!" waving a hand he turned back towards the black colored baby that howled at his sight. Francis' lower lip curled up.

"For God's sake, Francis!" Louis rushed up and placed a hand on the biker's shoulder, only for Francis to bitterly shrug it off. "Where's your conscience? Where's your humanity?"

Francis' head jerked towards his bald companion, "It's with Bill and all the others we lost," his pistol was raised towards the face of the zombie, "Because of freaks like this!"

"Wait!" Rochelle cried and slid between them, "Francis, baby, please!" with tears in her eyes. "Don't do it."

Francis shoved her away with one hand, but holstered his pistol. "I'll deal with this. If any of you get in my way, I'll put you down." Taking a couple of blankets he wrapped the infected baby and walked out of the room. Where he was going they didn't know. Just before he stepped out of the door, Rochelle's words made him pause, "If you do this, Francis...I'll never forgive you."

The biker said nothing and walked off.

For Allsyn, she knew nothing of what was going on. Perhaps it was for the best. The nurse and doctor came back to tend to her and sewed her back up, but with the infected baby inside her, they were worried that it would spread through her internally. They had to do a bunch of tests and for that, and the pain she would likely be in, they had to keep her sedated.

Rochelle and Louis slowly walked out of the room, with the latter having his arm around the other's shoulder, trying to reassure her that it will be fine, but Rochelle shrugged him off, too, and walked away with her head in her eyes, sobbing quietly.

 

[IntriguedLover]

Louis couldn't do anything. For the first time in his life, he felt completely useless. Wait, no. There were other times when he worked for the company back before all this, but now - with the whole team split up and falling apart, he just didn't know what to do. He leaned up against a wall near the room where Allisyn was now on life support to keep her breathing while she healed. Sedated and completely out of it, Louis could only hope that Ellis would come back. Perhaps he would make Francis snap out of it - because none of the rest of them had been able to. But then again, where in the fuck had Francis gone off to?

*** *** *** *** *** ***

Dawn was here. Ellis stretched, feeling sore from -- god, just from everything that has happened. He stood up, walking over to the window. He pried it open, stepping out onto the small balcony. There wasn't a bathroom in this place the group was in, so he just unzipped and leaned over the railing. "Ahhhh..." he groaned as released. He soon zipped up and looked to the skyline. "God, Paris is damned beautiful." There weren't any zombies around. None to be heard. "What the---" he paused for a moment listening. "Oh my god! Guys! There's a bird!" he shouted inside.

I had fallen asleep against Robert and everyone else stirred as Ellis was laughing out loud. "What are you talking about Ellis?" I said sitting up, straightening my jacket as I joined everyone at the window where Ellis was doing a little jig.

"A bird! And it's flying near a helicopter!" he said smiling.

"I'll be damned, I wonder if the thing has any gas in it," Kate said, rubbing her eyes.

Ellis turned around for a minute. "I hope not, I mean then how would it be tweetin---Ohhhhhh, the copter.. Never mind."

We all laughed for a bit before turning around and checking the guns for ammo. "We're low. We'll have to hope we don't run into any infected on the way to it," Kassie said turning around to look at us.

"Yeah. That's all we have right now. Faith, trust and M-16 rounds.." I said popping a mag into my rifle with a smile.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

The baby started to cry. But it wasn't really a crying sound that emitted from it. More like a small growl and cry blended together. Francis carried the newborn around outside the base. He couldn't wrap his head around it. "Why the fuck would this happen?! How in the hell could this happen?!" he screamed out, causing the baby just to cry more. "Shut up! Shut the fuck up. I will not hesitate to blast your head away.." he said cocking the pistol once more, to which the baby silenced itself. "Fuck, now its listening to me." Francis looked around and saw a tower. "There. I'll put you there." He trudged on through the mud. He felt something wet on his hand, looking down. "Oh fuck! You're pissing on me!" Francis yelled out before busting down the door and the blanket flying off the infant. "Fuck..." he said as the baby started crying again from being cold.

Francis grabbed the blanket and climbed the stairs, covering the infant. "A boy huh?" he said before laying the infant down on the floor at the top. Francis paced for the longest. The newborn wiggled around for a little while, deformed eyes watching his every movement. "I've killed a lot of you, well - not a lot of you. I don't kill babies. But I kill infected and you.." Francis spoke trying to reason what was going on. "I.. can't risk everyone dying because of you."

Francis left the tower, turning around to look once more. "Bah.." he said waving his hand heading back to the base.

Rochelle was inside crying still when she heard him come in. "What did you do?! Where is it? God damn it Francis! Where is the baby?!" she cried hitting him upside the head. But he didn't react, he only shrugged her off, pushing by and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. Popping the top, he began to chug it down. Silence. That's all he gave.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"How far is it to the chopper?" I asked Ellis.

"It's over by some museum looking thing, in a square. I don't know, maybe 8 or so blocks. The streets look pretty clear."

"Can anyone fly it?" I asked. I didn't have skills in flying it and the aircraft was more complex than a fixed wing aircraft.

"I can" Ellis replied, but he was slow and not as perky as before. "I mean, I may be able to. I don't have much training..."

"I can fly it" said Jackson. "I have flight hours. But, there's no telling what condition it's in..."

"And it may need fuel," Ellis nodded.

"All right then. Distribute ammo. Make sure everyone has an equal amount. We'll form two columns, one on either side of the road. Jackson and Ellis will be in the center for protection. When we get there, I want them and two others working to get the helicopter ready for take off and another group to search the perimeter for anything good we can use. Try to avoid contact. Don't shoot unless we're engaged and use hand signals from here on out, or whispers." Then I turned to Kate and Kassie. "You two will go ahead and set up a over watch for our path and when we set up at the helicopter. It will take us quite a bit of time to get it ready."

The two nodded with determination and headed out, but not before Kate gave Jackson a parting kiss.

I continued with my speech at all of the gathered faces around me, the nervous looking Dr. Ana, the calm Zoey at my side, and the eager Ellis in front of me. "I know we've been through a lot, but, when we get out of this, we're going to settle back in England for awhile before we take off on any more adventures."

"I don't know, sir" Jackson smiled, "This is the first time I've been able to see the world for free!"

We all had a little laugh at that. Helped break the tension. I reached out and held Zoey's hand and gave it a squeeze to assure her.

The sun was warm on our faces as we stepped out onto the streets of Paris. The place was in pretty good condition, but deserted with some discarded papers, suitcases, and such on the road. There was only that bird that Ellis say, other than that, no wildlife. We locked our weapons and moved with caution, weapons up and all senses intently listening.

 

[IntriguedLover]

Following Robert down the street, we were spread equally on either side of the street to protect the two in the middle. This was a good plan. We could watch on either side and not have to strain our resources and ammo. It was going smoothly. I smiled as I realized we'll be back in England soon. The warm sun felt good, that was true enough. I closed my eyes for a moment as I felt it touch my skin. It felt so incredibly good. Then I heard something. I stopped in my tracks and turned my m-16 down an alley.

"What is it, Zoey?" Kate asked standing next to me.

"I don't know. But it spooked me," I said looking down the alley. There wasn't anything down there but a couple of dumpsters and old food cans strewn everywhere.

Kate laughed. "Maybe it wasn't anything. Perhaps it was a cat, who knows."

"A cat? Really?" I said walking on, but checking one more time.

"It is silent enough, we don't know what could be making a come back now that it's calm enough," Kassie said in response from across the road.

I followed behind. It still irked me that I didn't know what had caused the noise down there. I kept a watch on my backside as I kept close to the rest, watching our six.

Ellis began to whistle, to which the little bird fluttering about up above us began to tweet back. It amazed us that something so small could give all of us hope like this. The bird swooped down and flew near Ellis as he whistled, before flying back up. "Haha, that's such a spry little guy!!" Ellis said happily.

But before we knew it, the little bird was knocked out of the sky with a swift pounce by a hunter leaping from a rooftop and landing on the ground in front of us, the bird squashed under its hand.

"Oh holy fuck!!" Kassie said opening fire on the special infected, missing with every shot of her rifle. The hunter jumping around to avoid the shots.

"Watch your aim! Conserve ammo!" I shouted as Jackson brought up his pistol and aimed, taking it down with a headshot, the hunter's body flying through the air and colliding with a brick building before sliding down to the ground.

"I thought this was a safe zone, clear of any infected," I said turning to Ana.

"I..." she paused. "I thought so too."

{OOC: Happy Holidays to both my co-writer and the readers of this thread!}

 

[guyloveshotstories]

God damn it. Can we ever catch a break? I wondered and nearly shouted, but that wouldn't do us any good. The last few meters to the helicopter were nerve racking as we went around a few disabled vehicles. The shot that killed the Hunter was oddly satisfying, but in the end would have alerted any other nearby hordes. I didn't know the population of Paris, but I hope it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be at this moment.

Reaching the helicopter, we found that it was an old H-34 Sikorsky 'Sea Horse' something that Bill would have been familiar with.

Jackson was first into the cockpit. "Set up a perimeter" I instructed. "Zoey, when Kassie and Kate rejoin us, you three search through some of these stockpiles here and see if there's any supplies we can use. The rest of you, secure the perimeter. That Hunter is still out there."

Going into the old bird's cockpit, Jackson was hesitantly looking at the control. "You need anything, Jackson?" I asked reassuringly.

"Y-yes, sir" he stammered looking at all of the control. It was more sophisticated than his trainer, but a few seconds and things started to come back to him. "I'll need to go through a pre-flight check and all of that," waving a hand.

Dr. Ana looked at the beaten up helicopter with fear on her face. It didn't look like a savior up close with it nicked paint work and ugly lines. She wanted sleek and elegant and power, not ancient.

This old bird will get us there. Just have to hold the perimeter. We've done it many times and the howl of the Hunter was still around us, stalking us. It knew what it was doing. It was trying to draw us out. Trying to get us to fire, alert other nearby infected. Wasn't going to work. We learned and we were ready.

 

[IntriguedLover]

Keeping an eye on the surroundings and the sound of a secondary hunter bouncing around from rooftop to rooftop only made me uneasy. I kept my gun held up, watching around. The corpse of the first hunter that Jackson took down with a headshot already starting to stink and the slight wind was causing it to waft this way. "Fuck, how much longer?" I asked.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," Jackson said working on the wires in the cockpit. Ana was hovering near the cockpit, watching him closely. "Um, do you mind stepping back a bit?" he asked her.

She looked shocked. "Oh um, I don't mind," she responded. She stepped back as she leaned against the bird. It was an old bird but we didn't need it to stay in the air for too long. We just needed to get back to England, that's all.

"Ohh boy! Damn, look at this coffee!" Kassie said out loud, Kate looking over her shoulder. It was all pressure sealed to keep the air out and to keep it fresh. "This stuff is expensive."

"Take it, we might need it later down the road and the soldiers might like it back at the base especially since they've been keeping the others safe," Kate said continuing to look around in the little coffee shop they broke into to check for supplies.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

Fuel was good, the engine was working and then the rotors started to spin slowly. There was some groan from the metal, but after warming up that went away.

"Please don't let there be a horde. Please don't let there be a horde," Ellis was muttering as his eyes continued to scan the roof tops.

It was quiet. That one Hunter that was killed, it didn't alert the others. Strange. The silence made me nervous. I could handle the automatic fire and the howl of dozens of infected, but the silence...it was deafening. Where were they? Paris couldn't be empty.

Dr. Ana was chewing on her fingertips as Jackson continued with his pre-flight check. To her, he must have hit the same switch five times and was getting nothing.

Here came Kate and Kassie, two bags filled with products and beaming smiles on their lips as they walked over to the old helicopter and tossed them on board.

"What was that?" I asked them.

"Stuff," Kate replied then rolled her eyes and smiled, "Okay. It's coffee."

"Kate!" Kassie cried.

"He was going to find out sooner or later, but we found all this fine French stuff and just couldn't let it go to waste. I mean, it could be years before anyone comes back." She then takes up a coffee can, still sealed and held it up to me and gently shook it, pouting her lips, "Look at it. A helpless little coffee can. How could you say no to it," lowering voice. "It's a poor little guy."

"Just be ready for when we have to go," I said walking away.

"I think I got it," Jackson said and the engine sputtered and coughed hard.

"ROWR!!!"

There it was. That scream echoed through the streets of Paris. All of our eyes jerked towards it and the grip on our rifles tightened. Here came the Horde. We couldn't see them because of the buildings, but they were coming. There were a great many crates scattered around, some were empty, but most had stuff in it, such a spare parts, ammunition, MREs and the like. We had loaded a few of them on board and the empty ones and the ones that had nothing of use to us, were used to make a barricade. It would at least slow them down. And when the roar was heard we manned the barricade, checked our ammo, and patted ourselves down to ensure that we had at least something more to fight with.

"Hurry up!" Dr. Ana cried.

"I'm working on it!" Jackson responded. The blades spun faster.

I was with Zoey at the barricades. I gave her a confident nod before looking down my iron sights at an intersection 100 yards away. There was nothing there, then came the wave. It was like turning on a water faucet, just a wave of water taking the turn and flowing towards us, only it was Infected. Our fire was intense and we cut them down mercilessly, but they kept coming.

Several Molotovs were lit and thrown. They shattered on impact with the street and consumed the first few in the yellow flames, but the others pressed on through, many catching fire but still determined to get us.

Dropping an empty magazine and putting in another, shit, last magazine. Then the helicopter lifted a few inches. It could fly.

Then came the booming roar of a Tank plowing its way through the street, sweeping away all of the infected before it, even picking up a couple of them and throwing them at the helicopter. Jackson pushed the stick and lifted off.

Kate yelled, "JACKSON!"

"Hang on! I'm coming back," he said slowly making a left turn over the horde. The Tank did a King Kong and climbed to the top of a building, ripped off a piece of the roof and threw it, but missed. "I'm coming in," Jackson gasped for breath biting his lower lip.

The landing was rough, but he touched down back where he started, "Get on board!"

Down came the Tank, "ROWR!"

"We are leaving!" I shouted waving a hand over my head. We all just ran and jumped on board. Jackson pushed the stick forward, the rotors tilted and we lurched into the air.

 

[IntriguedLover]

"Whoooooeey!!" Ellis hollered, his shoulder a bit sore from having to grab hold of the copter door to pull it closed as Jackson got us in the air. It was tough to get the bird in the air but we were airborne. The Tank on the ground, tossing chunks of concrete into the air to try and hit us down without much luck.

I sat back in a seat, laying my head back and closing my eyes. I sighed as I felt the pressure change and the direction change. "Get us back to England," was all I said before checking the ammo in my gun.

Francis hadn't spoken to anyone the whole time since he had taken the baby up the tower. He was still lost in thought and not entirely sure of what to do. Was it right to just leave the infant up there? In the cold? He shook his head - his drunken state causing him to be a bit dizzy. It was for the best. What if the infected baby cried? What if it brought infected to their doorstep? What if? What is if? What should he have done differently? "God, my head hurts," he said throwing the now empty whiskey bottle to the side.

It didn't take long for the copter to come in contact with the fog of England. It was getting hard to see out the front of the copter. "Anyone have GPS?" Jackson asked, not sure exactly where to set the bird down.

"Um, I think I found one in here somewhere - maybe it works?" Kate said sitting next to her lover in the co-pilot seat. Her buxom bosom flouncing slightly as she sifted through the bag of scavenged supplies.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"Hey...buddy?" Louis said softly entering the room. "How's it going?"

Francis could only growl and mumble as his head lay on the surface of the table. The bottle fell, but didn't break. Louis walked up and it up. Turning it over, it was empty. His eyes widened, he downed the whole bottle? Placing the bottle back on the table, Louis asked the biker, "How about we get you to bed?"

"G....way..." Francis muttered.

"C'mon now, big guy. Let's get you back..."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Francis swatted him away with a swing of his arm.

"Okay. I got it" Kate said pulling out the small GPS device, turning it on and waiting several minutes for it to warm up and get oriented. "Hopefully the SATS are still up," she muttered. When the device was ready, she entered the coordinates to the facility as the helicopter rolled into the fog.

"How do people live out here in all of this?" Jackson grumbled as he had to rely on his instruments.

"Got to learn how to adapt" Kate mused.

In the back we had shut the doors and tried to rack out and sleep, but the rumble of the engine and the jolts of turbulence made it impossible, so, we just curled up and laid still trying to rest our aching bodies. Zoey and had our backs up against the bulkhead, at least it was warm from the engine that we lay out heads against one another trying to sleep.

"I got it!" Kate smiled. "Adjust course 10 degrees to port, take a heading of three-oh-oh and 80 miles we'll arrive at our destination," then her smile disappeared for a moment looking at the controls, "Will we make it on this fuel?"

 

[IntriguedLover]

"We'll make it," Jackson said. His face trying to reassure everyone but deep inside his being, he was truly concerned. He hadn't really flown anything in so long and this rust bucket was barely making it through the skies. The fog was getting thick and the search lights on the front didn't work. He swallowed hard. "I'm gonna have to set us down a bit out from the base," he said slowing the speed.

"What do you mean?" I sat up asking. My face showing concern as was everyone else's.

"We're not going to be able to see much further, is pretty much it," Kassie said as she checked the ammo in the guns. We didn't have much at all and there were far too many infected hiding in the fogs of England for us to have much of a fight.

**** **** **** **** **** ****

"Francis..." Rochelle said as she walked in. Her eyes saddened to see the man that she loved reduced to a drunken mess. His arms swinging at Louis and almost clocking the black man upside the head with one hit. She walked up and placed her hands on either side of Francis' face. "Where....where is the baby?" she asked.

"I'm n-not tellin'..." he said trying to pull away, but Rochelle wasn't having any of it.

"Where is the fucking baby, Frank?!" she said, slapping him upside the face. Francis grabbed his face as he turned to look at her, a shocked expression showing.

"Frank? Where did you hear that?" he asked, almost a grumble.

She crossed her arms, fiddling with the ring that he had made for her on the ship. "You talk in your sleep. I mean, would your old man want you doing this?"

Louis was standing there, unsure of what to make of the situation.

**** **** **** **** **** ****

The silent cry, almost low growl, echoing through the fog from the top of the tower as a hunter slowly scaled the side of the brick wall, peering in to see the small bundle in the middle of the room at the top of the watchtower, wiggling - almost trying to get free from the swaddling. The hunter was curious at what was crying so silently.

 

[guyloveshotstories]

"Does this mean I get to call you 'Frankie'?" a sore Louis replied.

"Unless you want me to stomp a hole in your black ass!" Francis roared nearly shoving Rochelle aside.

"Calm down, big guy," she said placing both hands to his chest. "But, where is the baby?"

"I took it to one of the watch towers?" he said with a slurred voice.

"And?" Rochelle cocked an eyebrow at him.

Francis sat down and tried to find the bottle, but he had smashed it in the fight. She couldn't get a straight answer out of him. "I don't know what the old man would have done," the biker whispered. "I miss him."

At the tower, the Hunter's sharp talons touched the wrapping and the baby's face rolled towards it and widened in surprise. It couldn't reach out, but it's mouth opened and cooed. The Hunter slowly crawled into the tower and looked at it closely. It didn't rip it apart, but instead was curious of it. It didn't behave or look like a regular human. Footsteps were coming, and voices. The hunter's ears perked, the baby cooed. The Hunter wanted to attack the humans, but the baby rolled slightly in the bundle. Carefully the Hunter picked up the baby in its wrapping, climbed out of the tower and jumped off the wall without anyone noticing.

About half an hour later, an exhausted Louis came in and sat down next to Rochelle and Francis, "I-I couldn't find the baby. You sure you put it in one of the towers?"

"Yeah," Francis said rather dismissive.

"Well, I checked all of them, and nothing. N-not a sign of it. I even checked the garbage cans and talked to the guards. No one has seen it."

Rochelle stood beside the biker with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face, and her words dripping in acid, "What did you do with it?"

 

[IntriguedLover]

"Wooooooo-ee!" Ellis exclaimed. "So much fog. I cannot wait to get back to my dear Allisyn. I bet she has missed me."

"Ellis, hush," I said but couldn't help but smile, then frown. I couldn't help but think that we're coming back here empty handed. I was wondering what the commander of the base would think of our failed mission.

"Hey! I think I can see the spotlights from here!" Ellis said out loud. "We're almost back, safe and sound!"

"Ellis! Be quieter if you can," Kassie said looking to him.

He shrugged with a huge grin on his face. "I'm sorry, just a bit excited is all."

******************

Francis swung his arms around, pushing past them and stumbling out the door. "I'll show---*hic*---you!" he roared. He tried making his way down the hallway. The walls seemingly swaying from his blurred vision. He wasn't entirely sure which way was up, down, sideways or indifferent. "Fuck," he cursed finally reaching the entrance of the base. "Ro..please. Just help hold me up and I'll take you to the damned tower," he said reluctantly.

Rochelle muttered under her breath, a gentle sigh at the sad state her lover has fallen into. She walked over placing herself under his arm. "Just don't puke on me," she said.

He gave her a half grin. "Oh baby, I thought you were into that shit," he said before walking on. Rochelle just rolled her eyes.

It took a bit longer than it would have if Francis had been in a more sober state, but he pointed the tower out. "There---*hic*---with the white paint on the side," he said heading up to the door.

Louis walked up to him. "Man, I checked this one first. There was no baby, just an old wool jacket on the floor." Francis pushed past him as if it was on deaf ears. He climbed the stairs holding onto the railing tightly so he wouldn't go tumbling backwards. He opened the door at the top of the stairs, the jacket on the floor.

"I had wrapped it in that," Francis explained dropping to his knees. Rochelle came up behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I wrapped the baby up in this so it wouldn't be cold. I didn't want it to die from the chill and yet, it has been taken." He looked up to her with saddened eyes.

Rochelle looked around. "Someone couldn't have found it and not told us, could they?"

Louis pointed towards the window. "Guys, look. Those claw marks. Do you think a hun---" he stopped midway just as they heard an all-to-familiar voice echoing outside.

"Yep! I told you guys, we're back at the base! Hello? Anyone home?! We're back from France!" came the mechanic's voice echoing in the fog.

"Oh no.." Rochelle said, her eyes wide with both fear and sadness.