Happy Birthday, Beriothien! This first chapter goes out to you!

"Dreams" was inspired by numerous dreams and/or nightmares on account of over 100 hours of Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2 within a month.

Characters and category may change depending upon the new chapters that follow soon after on the other three original survivors (I don't think I will write the dreams of any on the new survivors- I don't like them very much). There is obviously no trace of Nellis, ZoeyxEllis, yaoi, yuri, lime/lemons, or any similar things of that nature. All events/dreams take place before "The Sacrifice" campaign's "Port Finale".

All rights are reserved to Left 4 Dead and the Valve Corporation.

William "Bill" Overbeck

The world was completely black… darkness was all around him…

His eyes were closed, he was sure of that...

He had to be dreaming… he had to be…

There was no way that this could be real…

And yet… did he really want to open his eyes…?

It was relaxing here… It felt like he was completely separated from his physical body along with the pains and stresses he had accumulated over time as they faded away into the darkness. Distantly, some part of his brain knew he was drifting along in a void devoid of anything but himself. He could feel a sense of peace, even though he couldn't, or wouldn't, open his eyes. No zombies… no dealing with whatever zombie horseshit the world had thrown at them. As far as he was concerned, there was no more worrying about when the next safe house was going to come into view or how they were going to get enough supplies and ammunition to fight through the endless hordes of those… monsters. The zombies that were wandering around everywhere, waiting to rip into the next unfortunate fellow they set their eyes upon like a bag of potato chips. He couldn't even feel pain at the site where the metal shrapnel of an exploding weapon had embedded into his leg when he had toured in Vietnam; it was as if it never had happened.

His feet lightly grazed against a solid substance of some sort as he suddenly lost the sensation of floating and the elderly veteran seemed to fall backwards as gravity took its hold once more. He scrunched his eyelids tighter, afraid that opening his eyes would make him face the inevitable fate resulting from his rapid descent. Something was pressed against his back and his legs though, arresting his fall. It was comfortable against the bone crushing amounts of wear and tear accumulated over weeks of physical abuse from the infected humans, and the elderly man sighed in relaxation, stretching his legs. Just as he was getting used to the new environment around him, a small, warm bundle thrust itself into his hands, and his eyes snapped open in astonishment.

It was his home, only strangely, it wasn't. Instead of the semi-squalid conditions he remembered living in for the majority of the remainder of his life after being discharged from the Special Forces; this appeared warmer and more welcoming, even though it appeared to be winter outside with snow falling to the ground in large clumps. A good amount of the white stuff had already fallen and, looking outside, Bill could see that the ground and nearby houses were completely coated with the cold substance. Fire crackled merrily in the fireplace positioned nearby the overstuffed brown chair that he found himself sitting on, warming his very being to the core. The next thing he noticed was that he was no longer in his army fatigues or that he wasn't as old as he really was. Rather, he appeared to be at least twenty three years younger and was in his normal clothes that he wore- a light blue colored polo shirt and beige shorts.

Soft laughter attracted his attention to the bubbly child that placed itself onto his lap, comfortably sitting on the veteran's legs and grinning impishly, eyes twinkling with sheer joy. She was probably no more than five or six years old. The child was a brunette, her hair tied into a messy ponytail by a bright red hair tie under his beret that he had used during the Vietnam War. It was positioned on her head at an angle, partially obscuring one of her eyes. She was wearing a bright red and white track suit, similar to the one that belonged to…

"Zoey…" Bill whispered, unable to believe what he as seeing.
"Daddy, daddy!" Zoey cried, stretching her small arms towards him. "Up, up, up! Please, please, please, up, up, up!"

Bill stood open-mouthed in wonder as he saw the incarnation of his companion as his daughter. This was essentially a vision of what could have been if he had got together with the love of his life instead of becoming reclusive and bitter to the world.

"Up!" Zoey begged again, her bright green eyes growing wide as she tried as best as she could to imitate the puppy pout face.
"Come on, William", a sweet voice jokingly implored. "Zoey wants to be picked up by her daddy!" his 'wife' added, looking at the pair through the door frame with a small smile growing on her face.

She had brown hair that was cut just below her shoulders, dark eyes that shone brilliantly in the light of the fireplace, and had a growing smile on her pleasant looking face. Monogrammed in bright red cursive lettering onto the shirt she was wearing was "Tonya". Bill could distantly remember the times they spent at college together. They were both in the same classes for most of college, working together on most projects that were given to them by the teachers, spending time talking with one another in between doing homework, and on one occasion, helping her build a computer of some sorts. Though they were polar opposites, Tonya easily being able to socialize and work in groups while Bill was unable to, they still forged a bond between themselves, which was all that really mattered.

However, Zoey lightly tugging on his shirt shook him out of his reverie and brought him back to the present, or what was deemed as the present at the time. Momentarily hesitating, the war veteran lifted the small child from his lap and into the air, the latter giggling madly and uttering loud howls of laughter. Sure he had considered Zoey to be like a daughter to him, becoming closely bonded with one another through the weeks spent struggling to survive, but he didn't actually think that it would one day manifest itself in his dreams. Once Bill put her down, however, Zoey childishly began the process of ruffling Bill's hair and shaping it into a semi Mohawk-like shape despite the lack of hair gel causing the veteran's hair to fall down again and again. Bill quirked a graying eyebrow in amusement as Zoey ignored his bemused reaction to continue playing with the veteran's brown-reddish hair.

"Happy birthday, daddy!" Zoey chirped happily, burying her face into Bill's chest before pulling away to perfect the Mohawk she made. "Mommy made cake and this time, it doesn't have grapefruit in it!"
"Hey, I thought grapefruit would go with kiwis and the cantaloupe in the cake" Tonya replied in between light chuckles, shrugging her shoulders good naturally. Her eyes trailed to Bill's head as he gazed upon what the small girl was doing, lightly shaking her head as Zoey continued her single-minded task. "Okay, kiddo, it's time for your nap."

Bill's 'wife' gently pulled Zoey away from him, the small child continually giggling madly at the veteran's new hairdo with her hands still outstretched towards him. The family dog soon took its place on Bill's lap, content with simply curling up and batting a paw at an itch on its muzzle. Zoey playfully stuck her tongue out at the dog while it merely shook its curly milky white fur in response and prepared for a comfortable snooze on Bill's lap.

"Goo Snickers" Zoey babbled, peering over her mother's shoulder to look at the three month old Maltese-Shih Tzu puppy as both mother and child began to move to another part of the house. "Goo doggie!"

Zoey and Bill's eyes were still locked on each other the whole time, and the veteran could still feel the gaze of her grass-green eyes, even though she had disappeared from view.

Then, the vision changed abruptly, going as quickly as it had came. The house faded away into wisps of white smoke, which then was blown away by an un-felt wind.

What the...

He was now in his proper age and in his usual ensemble , dressed in army fatigues and floating above a nightmarish scene that unfolded below him. Ashes were now blowing in the heavily polluted air, drifting down to the ground below like snow from pitch-black clouds ominously hanging around the destroyed city. Flames had erupted out of nowhere, burning everything man had worked for to the cold, unfeeling ground. Infected roamed the streets freely, stumbling their way through the empty concrete jungle. The sounds of distant gunfire cutting through the mobs of teeming zombies drew the attention of both the veteran and infected alike. The infected snarled at the sudden disturbance, whipping around and rushed at the pack of non-infected individuals.

The trio, two males and a female, bravely staged their stand against the zombies, fighting with every muscle in their body even against the impossible odds. It seemed as they made their way through the fallen city that they were going to make it out alive to the ship that awaited them at the shore. However, the unfortunate distraction of a raging Tank allowed a crafty Hunter to pounce and tear one of the trio's member into pieces. Frantic shooting from the other two members hit an alarmed car, which then pierced the sky with its wails. Panicking, the duo frantically tried to stop the Tank by lighting it on fire with a Molotov, but it hardly did anything. By this time, both the Hunter and the common infected were beginning to feast upon the man's body like savage animals.

Alarmed at the prospect of innocent survivors suffering the cruel fate that seemed to befall upon them, Bill subconsciously reached to his back for his trusty Assault Rifle, but it was not there. His ocean blue eyes widened and his breath hitched, realizing he could do nothing to save them.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

Bill could only watch, helpless, as the trio of survivors steadily became overwhelmed by the swarm of infected. He wanted to do something, but he found himself rooted to his spot far away from the three unlucky survivors, unable to move his legs or even drift towards them in the bleak hopes of somehow being able to protect the threes.

"No!" the female loudly howled in despair and tried to make her way over to free him as the other male tried to distract the hulking mass of muscle, but was caught by a speeding tongue owned by a sneaky Smoker that hid in the shadows.

Her screams of anguish were cut off by the Smoker's tongue tightening around her throat, squeezing the very life out of her. Her thin, pianist-like fingers tried to claw at the tongue as raspy wheezes where forced out of her mouth, but were promptly restrained by the tongue pinning them to her sides. The other male tried to get to her, but the Tank swung its mighty, flaming fists at him, causing him to run in the opposite direction from the two no matter how hard he tried to get to them and dodge the incoming danger at the same time.

I don't want to see this... please... Bill thought, looking away as the sounds of the carnage forced their way to his ears, even when he tried his hardest to ignore them.

... But he did, and he was horrified at what he saw. With two of the members incapacitated, the fight had been tipped to the infected's favor. With the crushing force of an oncoming train, the Tank had smashed the life out of the other male with one swing before turning to the choking female and evilly grinning. Wrenching her out of the Smoker's grasp, it easily held her above its head and completely snapped her back into two pieces like it was a twig. It triumphantly pounded its meaty fists on its massive chest soon afterward, roaring in delight after dropping the small college girl on the ground.

The woman gasped her last breaths and a great shuddering took hold of her body. Free of the Smoker's tongue, she raised a trembling hand to the sky, her green eyes gazing at the heavens towards Bill, as if she could see them. She appeared to mouth the words "Why, Bill, why?" to the elderly veteran and inhaled one last, ragged breath before she fell silent, limp and unmoving as a pool of crimson red blood spilled and infected swarmed around her. The hand never fell to the ground. Her gaze never left Bill or the skies. The Tank did not bother with the victim pinned under the Hunter- the burning fire of his life had flickered, sputtered, and now was extinguished for good.

Finally being able to draw closer, his horrified face slid into an expression of utter sorrow. Lying near the bloody heaps of zombies they had slain, with huge chunks or whole parts of them missing, were Francis, Louis, and Zoey. Their faces were forever frozen in horror, blood spurting out of their mouths and the gaping wounds in their bodies as the crazed infected continued to feed on them. Francis wasn't even recognizable anymore with the Hunter ripping his flesh and tossing bits of his intestines into the air like confetti. Louis was a mess; his body was splattered on the ground from the Tank's fatal blow to the businessman's chest. Zoey, in particular, died with a sad, betrayed look upon her face while her body remained a crumpled heap, her once bright eyes now growing cloudy and dull as the light permanently left them.

Goddammit! No, no, no, no, no!

Bill awoke, completely drenched in his sweat. The veteran shot out of his 'bed' in alarm and clutched his chest as his heart pounded furiously against his rib cage. The veteran nervously reached in a pocket for a cigarette, lighting it with shaking hands and taking reprieve with the sharp taste of nicotine. Francis shook the safe house with his thunderous snores reverberating in the small room; who knows what the man could be dreaming about now. Louis had staked a corner far away from the biker, the businessman choosing to sleep in a sitting position with his hands crossed in front of his chest. Judging by the expression on his face, he probably wasn't dreaming of anything. Zoey was curled up a few feet away from him, clutching her prized Hunting Rifle as if it were a stuffed animal of some sort and murmuring words unintelligible to anyone else but herself. Sometimes she started lightly rubbing a cheek against it or gently gnawing on it. Odds are, she was probably dreaming about eating a delicious meal with her family- her real, not-divorced family.

Inhaling some of the smoke, he relaxed as he saw the slumbering forms of his teammates asleep nearby, still alive and in one piece. Running a hand thorough his gray hair, he pondered on his dream as he finished the rest of the cigarette before carefully extinguishing it with his foot and tossing the cigarette butt somewhere. He crawled back into his dirt-caked sleeping bag and lay on his side with his eyes tightly shut, unsure if he was going to sleep or even get the images out of his head. He silently lay in his sleeping bag for hours, just endlessly worrying. As he lay awake, he now realized that his purpose that besides being the leader, he was the protector of this little tribe, his family that he never had. He had to make sure they remained safe, even at the cost of his life. Finally, the weary veteran passed out just as the sun peeked over the ruined country with five words echoing in his mind.

"We look after our own"

Once again, a very happy birthday to Beriothien, and an apology for accidentally forgetting about it last year... *sweatdrop*

The Sacrifice comic shows that Bill had reddish-brown hair when he toured in Vietnam. I made Bill's age around the mid-sixties to seventy years old in this story instead of over seventy years old (as I have done in "No Mercy") due to computers being relatively new at that time.

Inspiration for Bill's dream stemmed from the fact that he seems to be very protective of the group and even treats them like his family (even Francis). I thought that if Bill cares for Zoey like she was his daughter... well... this was the result. Originally, Francis and Louis were supposed to be in the first part of Bill's dream as brother and step-brother, respectively, but it was cut.

Next up is Zoey, where she finally gets her revenge on her trio of tormentors.