Sinking

A Left 4 Dead Story

Genre-Romance/Tragedy

Couple-Ellis and Zoey

Chapter 1

The sun hung low in the trees, casting a sort of eerie calm over the forest. "Y'know, if not for the zombies this would be a nice setting wouldn't it?" a young mechanic asked of his four fellow survivors. The oldest-Coach-looked back at the boy and smirked before simply stating "I guess "in response. Nick-true to his nature-simply rolled his eyes and kept walking. Ellis just laughed it off, never losing his sense of pride of the beauty of his home state, still though, behind that pride lurked an uneasy feeling of fear that you tend to develop in an apocalypse. At first he thought the reports were a bunch of bull, I mean, zombies? But, those jokes were silenced long ago. Turns out, everything was true, but by the time the authorities warned everyone, it was way too late. The infection spread through savannah like it was nothing, and turned many of his friends into "monsters" as many called these once-people, including his friend Dave, who Ellis was forced to kill. Tears came to his eye as he thought of the girls behind him, who had similar situations. The first-Rochelle-lost contact with her father and mother in Ohio about three days before the first sick showed up in Georgia. Ellis hoped they were okay, but what are the odds? Ohio's last evacuation center was overrun long before even half of the immune were saved. Then there was the other one, Zoey. Ellis felt his throat tighten as her story came to his mind. Out of all five of them, she had lost the most. Prior to the infection, Zoey was a college student studying to be an actress, although you wouldn't know it by looking at her. When the virus hit, she attempted to save her father and mother, but was too late. Although they were both immune, Zoey's parents were swarmed by the infected. Afterward, she met up with her old team of Louis, Francis, and Bill. Together, they managed to get transportation to the south, but the funny thing about the apocalypse is that you never know when it's going to throw a wrench in your plans. They lost Louis to a rouge charger; Bill was boiled alive in spitter acid, and Francis was thrown off a cliff by a tank. "Yoo-hoo! Earth to Ellis! You coming to the safe house or what?" Zoey's voice ripped him from his thoughts and he realized he was the only one not inside. "Y-Yeah. Sorry, ya'll "he said running in, he heard coach clamp the door shut behind him.

"Okay, here's the situation. We are stuck in a swamp with no car. Any ideas?" Coach said, eyeing a map. Ellis turned to Zoey and Rochelle with his standard big grin. "Anything, ladies? The fellas always do this part. Why don't you take a turn?" he said very politely. Zoey giggled and blushed slightly, but eyed the map of the area with intent. "Got it! This plantation house is circled. See? Whoever had this last wrote, "Boat Rescue" next to it. What do you think Ro'?" she asked her. Rochelle, seeing the map and scanning the other areas nodded. "I think she's right. Look at this-every evac center except that house has "Overrun" written next to it. So, we should go there before we have to add that place to the list." She stated. "that is the craziest idea I have ever agreed with. Nice work Rochelle." Nick stated. Ellis smirked at Zoey and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Nice work. I knew you could do it." He said. Before she could respond, Coach kicked open the safe room door with a cry of "Save it for later you two!" as he ran into the swamp shotgun going off every few feet, with Nick trailing close behind. Rochelle and Zoey cracked up at Ellis fallen face, but they all three ran out regardless. Ellis mowed down a few infected with his AK-47 before something in the mud suddenly moved and caught hold of his ankle, dragging him along into the deeper water. "H-H-Help! I need help!" he screamed over the horde that was approaching fast through the trees. Zoey, sensing this, aimed her pistols into the water and after a few well-placed shots, Ellis felt the tug slack and then vanish. "T-Thanks, Zoey." He yelled over the noise turning instantly and planting three zombies with fire from his weapon. Zoey, although both impressed and amazed at how fast Ellis seemed to bounce back, was overcome with common infected a sense of urgency overcame her, as she screamed for help from anybody who could hear her. "Get off her you brain-eating freaks!" she heard him scream as he hacked at the monsters with his machete. After they were dead, Ellis lifted her up and proceeded to use his health kit on her, bandaging her wounds. "T-There. That should hold till we get to the safe house." He said, smiling painfully. This did not go unnoticed as Rochelle approached him with her kit, but Ellis waved her off, blood pouring from several of his wounds. "I told ya I'm fine. That mud man just surprised me is all." He said, wincing slightly, again waving off potential healers, this time Zoey. He smiled warmly at her concerned look. "You keep it. Your safety matters more to me than mine." He said, although pain was still radiating through him. Coach was about to reprimand Ellis for his stupidity when a collective scream ripped through the air, signaling the approach of the horde, causing Nick to yell "Everyone in position!" Everyone turned toward the advancing zombies, with five concentrated bursts, Ellis flattened half of the monsters himself. Zoey turned to congratulate him, when she heard him scream in pure agony, chilling hers and everyone else's blood. "Ellis! Ellis, where are you?" they screamed, panic overwhelming even Nick. "Hey! Look over there ya'll!" Coach cried. They all turned to see Ellis's trucker cap floating in the murky water, blood-stained brim and all. Zoey was the first there as she held it in her fingers, tears welled in her eyes. He couldn't be. He just couldn't! "NO! ELLIS! IF THIS IS ONE OF YOUR JOKES I'M NOT LAUGHING!" she yelled in every direction, still crying. Nick was the first to speak, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Look Zoey, I'm upset too-we all are- but screaming your head off is just going to attract more of them. Would Ellis want you to get yourself killed?" he said sadly. Zoey looked at him and shook her head softly. "I guess not. I just can't believe it." She muttered. As they walked forward through the swamp, they heard a violent coughing sound. Their first instinct was that it was a smoker, but they listened better. This cough sounded human. "I say we check it out." Nick stated. Coach grunted while Rochelle merely nodded. They followed what appeared to be a mixture of blood and swamp muck through the dense underbrush fearing the worst when the sound stopped. They stepped through the last low branch and every person let out a gasp, even Nick. There, under the shade of a big tree, lay Ellis-minus his hat, which Zoey had stuck into her bag-bleeding out, with the tongue of a smoker still around his ribs. The smoker was hunched down, the wound from a magnum bullet still oozed strange black blood. Zoey reached him first, and proceeded to shake him violently. "Ellis? Can you hear me? Ellis, please wake up." She said, her voice growing more panicked with every word. When the young man did not stir, her eyes began to shimmer with the tears she had held back earlier. Nick just lowered his head, silently honoring his fallen comrade. Rochelle sobbed into Coach's chest while the big man himself also had started to cry, although not as much. "Boy, were going to miss your goofy stories." He muttered. Zoey would not even look up at them, her eyes still on the not-moving mechanic. "No… of all the people I've lost, why him? WHY?" she choked on a sob at the last part of her sentence. She bent down and kissed Ellis on the lips very softly, "I'll miss you." She said as she stood. They turned to leave when they heard a gruff voice say, ""Ya'll aint leaving' are ya?". In absolute awe they turned and saw Ellis looking at them, his trademark grin plastered on his face, though his eyes were slightly duller than usual. Zoey-unbelievably to everyone, even herself-laughed, though it was a sad chuckle at best. She ran forward and removed the wrap from him and took out her medkit, frowning when he attempted to wave it off. "No arguments this time. You are going to die if I don't do this. And I don't think your in any shape to stop me." She said, a joking tone in the last part. Ellis merely chuckled and nodded, so Zoey went to work while the others questioned the boy. "What happened? One minute, your mowing down zombies, the next, we find you half dead." Coach said. Rochelle had bent down to help, but still said, "Yeah, I mean we could easily had left you hear if it wasn't for your coughing." Ellis smiled weakly. "Well, after I killed off some of that horde, I felt something wrap around me. I pretty much knew it was a smoker, but he wrapped it around my cuts from the mud men, so all I could do was scream. As he pulled me, I dropped my AK, so I managed to pull out my magnum and put a bullet through his head. After that, I couldn't get up, and I could see you guy's leaving. All I could do was cough, and well….. Here we are!" he finished his tale with a mock cheering motion. Zoey, having finished healing him, stood him up with Rochelle's help, smiled weakly. "Yeah, well, let's hear one of your Keith stories. That will cheer me- I mean us!- up. Nick had begun to say something like "Why do you encourage him?", but stopped short seeing that at the mention of that name, Ellis lost the little gleam that was left and his eyes became slightly wet with tears. "L-Look could you help me over to the smokers body for just a moment?" he said to the two girls. Both looked shocked, but neither objected they lowered Ellis down, and to their absolute shock, he began crying. "I'm so sorry I could not save you. Now look at you! I-" he did not finish. Despite his injuries, he ran without waiting. They saw him run into the safe room and clang the door shut. Zoey bent down to examine the smoker and got the others attention. "Guys? You'll want to see this." She said after looking over the body closely. The smoker was wearing a pair of blue jeans and an old mechanic shirt, faded and torn, but the back of it still could be read-Savannah Mechanic service. "Okay, I don't see why this freaked the kid out so badly." Nick muttered. "Yeah. It's not like we don't see this a whole lot anymore." Coach added. Only Rochelle and Zoey saw it, causing them to be very annoyed. "Were talking about the name tag, dummy." Zoey muttered. Both men looked down and saw, in bright red letters the name of who this person was. "No way… this can't be right." Nick said. Coach nodded in understanding this time. "Believe it, Nick. My god, no wonder the kid looked so upset." He said. The smokers name tag read "Keith". Shaking their heads they made their way into the Safe house without another word. Nick took the first watch, while Zoey, Rochelle, and Coach cooked some food. When it was done, Zoey took her food and Ellis's share to the room he was in. She knocked softly and a hoarse "Come in" was her answer. Slightly taken aback by how depressed Ellis sounded Zoey opened the door to see the young man flipping through a copy of Tom Sawyer while sitting on the bed. "Keith's favorite book….." he trailed off as he answered the question on her face. She sat the food down next to him, although he did not even look up. "I, uh, found your favorite-Tomato soup-but you'll have to eat it cold. We also found some graham crackers." She said motioning toward the spread. Ellis managed a small grateful smirk and spooned some of the red liquid into his mouth. "Thanks Zoey. I'm sorry I'm being such a downer." He muttered to mostly himself though she still heard him. She smiled sadly and wrapped her arm around his waist, causing him to be pulled into the hug. He was surprised, but did not resist it. "I am so sorry that you had to find him like that. I'm sure he went down fighting, right?" she whispered into his ear, earning a thankful squeeze from him. "I know, it's just that….. We always swore that we would meet up in New Orleans ya know? But we got separated about two days before I meet the others and you." He said, sadness absolutely dripping from him. They broke apart, but kept their arms around each other. "Yeah, but, finding me made you forget?" she said. Ellis flashed a shadow of his classic grin, "Yeah. thanks for that." He said again. "No problem." she smiled.