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Description
Chapter 2

The morning was gray and dreary. Luigi leaned back against a tree fighting off drowsiness. They had spent the night in a tree house while taking turns keeping watch. Bill wanted them to leave as early as possible; the sun hadn't even been up yet. Now the Survivors found themselves standing around by a picnic table littered with ammo, first-aid kits, grenades, and weapons. Ahead of them stretched a valley, and it wasn't one full of lush grass with flowers and rabbits hopping around. No. The grass was brown and brittle, a few scraggly bushes here and there. Not to mention the Common Infected wandering around. It genuinely looked depressing.

Opening his eyes halfway, Luigi stared at a hill silhouetted ominously against the gray sky. A shiver of fear crawled down his spine. He bleakly wondered if the ominous vibe he was getting by just staring at that hill meant that something bad was going to happen. The teen hoped not. They had endured enough shit as it is.

"From what I can see," Bill speaking caused Luigi to shift his sleepy gaze from the hill towards him, "all we have to do is get over that hill."

Rae was nodding along with the others but held up a hand. "Before we go," She strolled over to the table and picked up a sniper rifle. "How about I snipe some heads first?"

Nobody argued as she crouched down and looked through the scope. After all, Rae was the best sniper in the group so none of them would complain at her blasting off a couple of zombie heads. While she dealt with the Infected in the valley, Luigi stumbled over to the picnic table, strapped on a first-aid kit, grabbed ammo for his weapon of choice: a combat rifle, and picked up a pipe bomb. When he turned back, he blinked in surprise to see Rae discarding the sniper rifle back onto the table and picking up a combat shotgun.

"Goddamn, Rae," he said a little baffled.

She laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "You would have done the same thing if it meant getting over the hill without any problems." she accused him gruffly.

Before he could defend himself, an impatient voice filled the air. "Let's go ladies!" Francis was calling. He, along with the others, was already making his way toward the hill.

"Come on; let's go before Francis has a bitch fit again." Rae said, racing after them.
Pushing away his drowsiness, Luigi ran after her and fell into step beside Zoey. Bill led them confidently across the valley while Rae and Francis brought up the rear. Louis limped alongside Bill.

It was going well, no Infected in sight besides the dead ones. Luigi sent a silent prayer up to God as the hill gradually got closer. They were going to do it after all. A flap of wings and startled squawking caught his attention. He looked up to see a flock of birds fly into the sky. Francis was glaring after them.

"I hate birds." he muttered.

"Yeah, birds are dicks." Zoey agreed. "Wait. I gotta write this down." She quickly pulled out the notepad and wrote it down before stiffening as the howl of an approaching Horde was heard.

Doesn't this bring back memories? Luigi thought sarcastically, remembering when the group had been traveling through a cornfield to a farm house where the military would rescue them. It had been dark outside so poor Louis had no idea he had startled some blackbirds until it was too late. Apparently birds, along with car alarms and just about anything that made a loud noise, attracted Hordes.

While he was lost in thought, his teammates were already gunning down the Infected running towards them. Thinking quickly, Luigi took out his pipe bomb.

"Throwing the zombie chew toy!" he called as he threw the object. The Infected immediately turned their attention away from the Survivors and focused instead on the pipe bomb, surrounding it as they attacked the grenade. Luigi couldn't help but smile wickedly at the cloud of blood that flew in different directions when the pipe bomb exploded.

His ears picked up the sounds of thundering footsteps and he whipped around in time to see a Charger barrel into Louis, seizing the hurt man with its massive arm. Zoey let out a shocked cry while Francis wasted no time in running after the Special Infected as it began pummeling the former business man into the ground.

"Help!" Louis cried, struggling helplessly to free himself.

Francis pelted the Charger's back with bullet after bullet from his combat shotgun until the zombie finally died. He then proceeded to help the African American up. "You okay Louis?" he questioned.

"Thanks man," Louis said through gritted teeth. "I'm okay. Just gotta shake it off."
Luigi sighed in relief which turned into a yelp as pain raked his back. An Infected had snuck up behind him and clawed mercilessly at him, shredding his green long-sleeved shirt and piercing his flesh. Angrily he smacked it away before quickly killing it with a couple of bullets.

"Incoming!" Rae shouted.

Confused by her words, Luigi looked around. Suddenly he was leaping back when a green glop hit the ground where he was standing just before. A Spitter had arrived and, as he looked for it, spotted it near the tree he had been leaning against. The teen was about to kill it, but a rain of bullets showered past and Bill, quite pleased with himself, watched as the Spitter fell forward dead. The war veteran nudged him and nodded in the direction of the hill. Luigi nodded and raced toward it.

"Gotcha Bill." he called over his shoulder.

Zoey was about to reach it when a Hunter suddenly pounced her. Feeling his stomach turn inside out, Luigi picked up the pace until he was literally flying towards her. He had to kill the Hunter before it did a great deal of damage to the student.

"Get it off! Get if off!" Zoey screamed while she tried pushing it off her to no avail. When she spotted him racing toward her, however, her brown eyes went from glistening with horror to relief. A second later she was getting to her feet and glaring down at the dead corpse of the Hunter. "Thanks for that, Weegee."

Luigi smiled and nudged her. "You're welcome Zo," He then grew serious. "Get over the hill. I'll go make sure everyone's okay."

As Zoey hesitated, he turned back around to assess the situation so far. Rae fought alongside Louis while Bill and Francis had gone back-to-back. So far the four were doing well against the Horde. But as Luigi went over to go help them, a choking sound from Zoey made him stop in his tracks.

"What is it?" he asked turning back to her quizzically.

"Two Tanks."

"What?"

"TWO. TANKS."

"No way."

"Luigi!" Zoey pointed in a direction. "There are two fucking Tanks coming!"

Luigi turned around and his jaw dropped.

She was right, two Tanks were quickly approaching. Bill, Francis, Louis, and Rae were too busy with the Horde to notice the dangerous threat. With a punch, one of Tanks made the picnic table soar into the air and crash mere inches past the four Survivors. They stilled, froze, and turned to look at the two Tanks.

"Fucking run!" Luigi screeched just as the Tanks spotted the Survivors and lumbered towards them.

Behind him Zoey dug into her pockets until she pulled out a molotov. She cocked her arm back and, locking her gaze on one of the Tanks, threw it. "Fire in the hole!"

As the molotov zipped past and burst into flame on the ground in front of Zoey's targeted Tank, Rae began helping Louis toward the hill while Francis and Bill opened fire. Luigi rushed over to help the two while Zoey raced over to help Rae with Louis.

The Tanks were on them now. Francis and Bill quickly dodged out the way as the one not on fire tried throwing a chunk of the ground at them. Luigi managed to jump back as the piece exploded into smaller pieces in front of him. Smirking, he bent down to pick up the largest thing of rubble he could find and chunked it back at the Tank. It roared angrily as the bit of ground bonked it square in the forehead.

Turning tail, Luigi ran as the Tank charged with the intent to kill him. He pointed his combat rifle over his shoulder and pulled the trigger, not caring about the ringing in his ear. Right now all he cared about was putting distance between himself and the Tank. Glancing past the abomination behind him, he spotted Francis and Bill flankingthe Tank on fire. Zoey rushed in to join the fray just as the Tank tried to punch Francis. The teen couldn't help but smirk as the Special Infected glanced furiously from one Survivor to the next, not sure on who to attack.

Misfortune chose this time to strike.

Luigi let out a startled gasp when he lost his footing on the grass and crashed to the floor. Groaning, he struggled to his feet and his nose was throbbing. He heard a furious grunt and rolled away just in time when the Tank proceeded to slam its fist into the ground. He leapt to his feet and took off running again while firing.

"Out of the way moron!" a shout of warning made him duck. Rae threw a molotov at the Tank, finding enough time to rush back to the tree and grab one.

"Nice." Luigi commented, zipping past. Rae ran after him, matching him stride-by-stride. The Tank was angrier than ever and glared after the retreating teenagers venomously. It dug its large fingers into the ground and proceeded to rip up a piece of Earth and chunk it at them. Rae let out a scream of pain when it nailed her on the back and crumpled to the ground. Luigi skidded to a halt and crouched next to her.

"Rae! Aw man, are you okay?" he asked worriedly, eyes wide at the unexpected attack.
The teen winced while she struggled to find her footing. "I'm alright, just–Luigi look out!"

"Wha–shit!" Luigi's questioning statement turned into a scream as he was sent flying back by a powerful punch from the Tank. He managed to land on his feet, skidding against the grass but nonetheless falling back on his ass. "Damn what a cheap shot." he growled to himself.

His eyes widened when he saw the Tank beating Rae mercilessly into the ground. Her combat shotgun had been flung from her hand; she had even lost her dual pistols. High-pitched screams of agony would escape her every time the Tank struck.

Luigi scrambled to his feet, but before he could go help her he felt something wrap around his waist. Looking down he saw a Smoker's tongue and found himself stumbling to the floor when the Special Infected reeled him back. He struggled against the hold and gagged lightly as the tongue curled around his throat. The reeling stopped, and for a minute he was confused until he felt ragged claws cutting his flesh. He released a scream for help.

Unfortunately for him, his teammates were too busy dealing with the Tanks and he could only stare in disbelief as none of them abandoned the fight to come help him. He tried calling out for help again when his vision suddenly went haywire. The teen couldn't see anything except for a yellowish-greenish color. Did he mention it smelled bad too? He cursed aloud, realizing a Boomer had vomited on him.

I swear to God, that Boomer's dead for being a douche! Luigi vowed silently while he continued to struggle against the Smoker's hold. An idea suddenly popped into his head and he started kicking frantically at it. The Smoker seemed bewildered at this and he heard it let out a frustrated cough as he delivered a good one to its shin, causing it to release him. Grinning evilly, Luigi picked up his combat rifle and killed the Smoker.
He started coughing against the green fumes rising from the corpse and backed away. Gurgling sounds made him stop and turn around. Though his vision was still blurred by the boomer bile, the shape of the obese Special Infected wasn't hard to miss and he quickly delivered a bullet into its belly, relishing in the boom as it died. Unfortunately he happened to be too close and got recovered in vomit.

"This sucks!" Luigi muttered and made his way back to his teammates, hearing in disgust as his shoes made sucking noises. By now they should have dealt with the Tanks. Too bad he hadn't noticed the fresh wave of Infected coming up behind him. When he finally heard them coming, however, it was too late.

Luigi stared around in fear as he was surrounded and winced with pain as they attacked him. He cursed as the bile blocked his view of his enemies and fired crazily at any dark blobs he could see. With a sickening feeling, he realized that the whole damn Horde was attacking him and it was all that damned Boomer's fault!

"Dammit!" yelped Luigi, falling to the ground after getting nailed a good one. "Help!"
He took out his dual pistols from his holster and began firing into the Horde. The boomer bile had completely vanished, but the Infected seemed to not care as they continued to claw him, kick him, and even stomp on him. And even though he was firing away at them madly, it didn't seem to help his situation at all. A high-pitched scream escaped his throat. "Ahhh!"

The familiar feeling of horror dawned on him and he continued yelling for help, occasionally shrieks of pain escaping him. His teammates would know where he was, drowned in a mass of Infected. Bleakly he wondered why they weren't helping him, but when he started seeing some of his assailants fall to the ground dead, he heaved a great sigh of relief. Someone had come to save him.

It was when the Infected began to lessen did Luigi fully see who his savior was. Bill was shooting at the zombies like the war veteran the teen knew he was. With his help, the two Survivors managed to kill them all and Bill set to work on getting Luigi to his feet.
"Probably stings like hell, but it ain't gonna kill ya. Up an' at 'em soldier, time to move." the old man encouraged.

"I'm not a soldier yet, Bill," Luigi croaked and winced. "And I don't think I want to be." He paused when he realized that he couldn't see out of his left eye and began to freak. "I-I can't see out of my left eye! Did those bastards gouge it out?"

"Relax kid!" Bill said quickly. "They didn't gouge your eye out, it's just swollen shut."

Luigi sighed. "Thank God." Rae drifted into his mind. "Rae! Is she okay?"

Bill placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He nodded toward Francis who carried Rae piggy-back style. Luigi felt his un-swollen eye grow wide when he saw her right leg splayed uselessly out behind her. His gaze swiveled toward the burnt corpse of the Tank that had been attacking her and fury washed over him.

"Calm down son," Bill spoke, distracting him for a second. He turned to look up at the war veteran. "The Tank just broke her leg. You should be glad it didn't kill her."

Nodding quietly, Luigi limped behind the old man as he walked back to the others. Louis and Zoey were engaging in what looked like a serious conversation, one of the two occasionally glancing at Rae making it obvious that their talk was about her. Francis was shooting at the remaining Infected and miraculously Rae joined him. Luigi couldn't help but smile at the sight. The Tank may have broken her leg, but not even that would stop her from killing some sons of bitches. Taking out his first-aid kit, he stumbled over to Rae and began patching her up. She twisted her head around to look at him questioningly.

"Damn boy," she breathed. Luigi didn't pause from his work as she went on. "Those bastards got you good."

Luigi frowned and was about to answer when a curse came from Louis. The two teens and Francis glanced over to see him shaking his sniper rifle with eyebrows furrowed. After a minute or two of repeating the action, the former business man angrily gave up and looked at his teammates in frustration.

"I'm out of ammo!" he informed.

Francis spoke before anyone else could. "Why don't you just go get some–oh yeah. Never mind." the biker trailed off, just now realizing what had become of the ammo. "Sucks for you then."

Louis glared, but before he could make a sharp retort Zoey threw her AK-47 onto the ground. "Mine's out too!" she announced unhappily.

Bill frowned and checked his combat rifle before he too threw it on the ground beside the AK-47. "Wasted the last of my bullets saving Luigi's ass." he told them.

"Well excuse me for–I'm out too." Luigi began to retort, but changed his tone as he tried reloading his combat rifle. "Francis is right, this does suck. Fuck the Tank that punched the table."

Rae didn't even bother checking her combat shotgun and discarded it. Francis spotted an Infected running toward them and happily shot its head off with his combat shotgun before dropping it. The biker then pulled out his dual pistols and began aiming them around randomly.

"Are we going to move or not?" he demanded, looking expectantly at the hill. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to finally get out of this nightmare."

He then proceeded to stare dumbfounded when everybody else walked past him to the hill during his words. Francis grumbled something under his breath and chased after his teammates, taking up the rear. It seemed strangely quiet and there weren't any Infected to be seen except for the occasional Special Infected, but they were quickly taken care of.

Before the six Survivors knew it, they had made it to the foot of the hill. Louis sighed with relief while Luigi pumped a fist in the air. Bill looked happy as he began making the first steps upward only to pause suddenly and skitter back down. This confused the others as they exchanged glances with one another at the look of pure horror written over the war veteran's face. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong with… Holy shit." Francis began to ask only to trail off as the biggest Horde–bigger than the one back at Rayford–the group had ever seen came rushing over the top of the hill.

"We can't fight against that many Infected with just pistols!" Rae wailed while Luigi braced himself for the threat.

Louis was freaking out. "Oh shit, SHIT, SHIIT!" he screamed with fear. "What do we do?"
Bill was trying to calm them down. "Relax, people, relax!" he shouted above the screeching of the oncoming Horde. "I'll think of a plan, you just have to calm down."

Zoey's eyes never left the Horde as she addressed him. "Hurry, they're getting close."

Eyebrows furrowing, Bill crossed his arms and looked down at the ground as he tried to come up with a plan. While this was happening, the other Survivors decided to take out as many of Infected as they could with their dual pistols. When three minutes passed and the old man hadn't spoken yet, Zoey took it upon herself to yell at him.

"Bill! They're getting closer!"

The words sent his head snapping up and he fixed his blue eyes on his comrades determinedly. "Francis, do you have that bile bomb on you?" When Francis nodded he turned to Louis. "Still have that pipe bomb, Louis?"

"Sure do." Louis replied and held it up.

"Good, and I have my molotov. On a count of three, I want us to throw them in different directions. After that, haul ass and shoot. Got it?" Bill explained and when everyone nodded he turned to face the Horde. "1…"

Francis cocked his arm back with his hand gripping tightly onto the jar with the green liquid sloshing around inside.

"2…"

The Horde was literally upon them now.

"3!"

"Fight amongst yourselves ya damn vampires!" Francis shouted as he threw his bile bomb and it exploded on a male Common Infected unlucky enough to be in the way.

Louis threw his pipe bomb on the left flank of the Horde. "Grenade!"

After Bill threw his molotov onto the right flank, Luigi pushed back on his legs and took off up the hill. Zoey raced along besides him, covering his left side while he covered her right. Francis bounded past them with Rae on his back killing zombies in his path. Luigi turned back to find Bill and Louis not far behind them. Louis seemed to be limping badly, but he didn't let it stop him from picking up the pace until he was running along with him and Zoey. Bill joined them shortly, shooting over his shoulder at the Infected chasing after them.

An angry shout from ahead made them turn their heads in the direction it came from. At the very top of the hill Francis wrestled with a Jockey while Rae lay on the ground in pain. While trying to get the Special Infected off of him, the biker lost his footing and disappeared over the hill.

"Francis!" Zoey raced forward until she was skidding to a halt at the top. Luigi came up just in time to see both Francis and the Jockey tumble into a river none of them had known was there.

Just then screaming of agony tore the air. The brown-haired Survivor looked to see Infected swarming Rae and attacking her. She shot at them with little success and was screaming to get their attention. He turned back to Bill, Louis, and Zoey.

"Head for the river!" Luigi yelled. "I've got Rae. Just go!"

Bill nodded and went to go help Louis down the hill while Zoey hesitated. She gave him a long look, her brown eyes gleaming in worry. Only after Rae let out another scream did she race after Bill and Louis.

With his teammates heading for the river, Luigi turned to help Rae. He ran over, killing the Infected with his dual pistols. He suddenly felt something slam into him. In the next second he found himself pinned against the ground with a Hunter tearing into him. He struggled vainly, peeking past the Hunter at Rae still firing at her attackers. She was going to die if he didn't get to her.

Fury seared through Luigi as the sharp, knife-like claws tore away into his abdomen. He managed to free one of his arms and smirked up at the Hunter. In the next second he rammed his fist into its face, the blow having enough force behind it to fling it off him. "Cross me ever again you son a bitch," Luigi snarled as he punched it again before whipping out one of his dual pistols and aiming it directly at the Hunter's forehead, "you'll regret it."

Luigi raced past the Hunter's corpse where blood streamed out of the newly-formed hole in its forehead. He rushed over while killing the Infected around Rae at the same time.

"Thanks for coming back for me," Rae said, hissing through gritted teeth as the boy helped her onto his back.

"I'm not letting you die yet." Luigi told her solemnly as he began making his way down the hill.

Rae grunted and looked behind her to make sure no more Infected were coming. It was then that she realized Luigi's sides were stained with blood. "Luigi, you're bleeding! And it looks pretty bad."

"It's okay," he growled back through gritted teeth. Right now all he cared about was getting to the river. "It's nothing I can't handle."

He felt her hands roam his chest until they drew back when she let out a gasp. He could feel her sharp gray gaze on the back of his head as he continued toward the river. His heart started pounding against his chest when he spotted Bill, Louis, and Zoey
floundering against the current trying to reach the other side. His heart began pounding even harder when he didn't find any sign of Francis. Where did the biker go?

"No, it's not okay Luigi!" Rae smacked him upside the head. He ignored the sharp pain and concentrated on getting to the river. "Stop for a minute, take my health kit, and heal yourself."

Luigi shook his head. "I'm okay Rae. Honestly."

"Idiot! You're bleeding out! You green moron, heal yourself"

At her words he stopped. "No!" snarled Luigi and twisted his head to give her a hard stare. "We have not come this far to die now!"

"Well you're going to die if you don't use my first-aid kit to heal yourself!" Rae argued.

"Don't worry about me!" Luigi retorted. "I said I was going to be okay! Now I would appreciate it if you would shut the fuck up!"

Rae fell into a stubborn silence and the two reached the bottom of the hill in silence. As Luigi stood there wondering how he was going to get across the river while supporting Rae, he was unaware of the pounding footsteps quickly approaching. Only when the loud, roaring noise rattled his eardrums did Luigi realize that it was a Charger.

The impact from the Charger flung Rae off his back and, with a surprised yell, she plunged into the river. Luigi pounded his fists into the Charger's bulky right arm when it wrapped around his waist. He then realized with a jolt that the Charger was still rushing forward, oblivious to the river ahead.

Water clutched Luigi like a hand bigger than the Charger's and buffeted him from side to side. The icy cold of the torrent took his breath away. His arms and legs worked furiously as he tried to swim, but the weight of the Special Infected on his waist dragged him under. He had lost sight of Rae when the Charger attacked him; he could see nothing but the foam that bubbled all around him.

Suddenly he felt the Charger's right arm slip from his waist and he began swimming upwards. Had it drowned? He didn't care honestly. As his head broke the surface he gasped for air, managing to stay afloat as the racing torrent swept him downstream. He spotted Rae ahead of him, her eyes wild with fear. Kicking out strongly, Luigi closed the gap between them and, as the teen began to sink, he wrapped his arm around her.

"L-Luigi!" Rae began, but cut off as water filled her mouth. The extra weight had caused her rescuer to be dragged down.

All Luigi's instincts screamed at him to let Rae go and save his own life. But he made himself hold on while he forced his limbs to go on working and bring his drowning teammate back to the surface. As Luigi and Rae reappeared, Luigi caught sight of the river bank and struck out toward it, but his limbs were aching with weariness. Rae was a deadweight, unable to help him as well as herself due to the fact of her broken leg. Luigi knew that he could not let go of her, and his senses began to spin away into darkness as his head went under again.

Barely conscious, he made one more massive effort, thrusting at the water with his one arm and both legs. But when he resurfaced he could not see the bank, and he had lost all sense of direction. His limbs stiffened with panic as he knew he was going to drown. An urgent nudging made him groggily turn his head toward Rae, blinking water out of his bright blue eyes.

"Don't stop!" she encouraged him and he realized that she was pointing at something. "Look! The bank is over there! Come on Luigi, you can do it!"

Following her direction, the teen saw that she was right. The bank was closer to the two than he thought. Luigi splashed his way toward it with Rae helping him. Together the two teens managed to get close enough for him to thrust out a hand and grasp onto a thick branch jutting out over the river. Using the prop, he managed to pull himself and Rae the rest of the way.

Coughing and gasping, Luigi hauled Rae out the river first before following her. The teenage girl lay on her side breathing in air like a fish out of water.

Head swimming, vision distorted, Luigi tried crawling over to her, but collapsed. He tried lifting his head as four dark shapes came within line of sight, but he was too weak to even lift his pinkie finger. He tried calling out to them, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a shaky whimper.

His eyes suddenly closed and he gave way to dizzying blackness.

Description
Chapter 2

The morning was gray and dreary. Luigi leaned back against a tree fighting off drowsiness. They had spent the night in a tree house while taking turns keeping watch. Bill wanted them to leave as early as possible; the sun hadn't even been up yet. Now the Survivors found themselves standing around by a picnic table littered with ammo, first-aid kits, grenades, and weapons. Ahead of them stretched a valley, and it wasn't one full of lush grass with flowers and rabbits hopping around. No. The grass was brown and brittle, a few scraggly bushes here and there. Not to mention the Common Infected wandering around. It genuinely looked depressing.

Opening his eyes halfway, Luigi stared at a hill silhouetted ominously against the gray sky. A shiver of fear crawled down his spine. He bleakly wondered if the ominous vibe he was getting by just staring at that hill meant that something bad was going to happen. The teen hoped not. They had endured enough shit as it is.

"From what I can see," Bill speaking caused Luigi to shift his sleepy gaze from the hill towards him, "all we have to do is get over that hill."

Rae was nodding along with the others but held up a hand. "Before we go," She strolled over to the table and picked up a sniper rifle. "How about I snipe some heads first?"

Nobody argued as she crouched down and looked through the scope. After all, Rae was the best sniper in the group so none of them would complain at her blasting off a couple of zombie heads. While she dealt with the Infected in the valley, Luigi stumbled over to the picnic table, strapped on a first-aid kit, grabbed ammo for his weapon of choice: a combat rifle, and picked up a pipe bomb. When he turned back, he blinked in surprise to see Rae discarding the sniper rifle back onto the table and picking up a combat shotgun.

"Goddamn, Rae," he said a little baffled.

She laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "You would have done the same thing if it meant getting over the hill without any problems." she accused him gruffly.

Before he could defend himself, an impatient voice filled the air. "Let's go ladies!" Francis was calling. He, along with the others, was already making his way toward the hill.

"Come on; let's go before Francis has a bitch fit again." Rae said, racing after them.
Pushing away his drowsiness, Luigi ran after her and fell into step beside Zoey. Bill led them confidently across the valley while Rae and Francis brought up the rear. Louis limped alongside Bill.

It was going well, no Infected in sight besides the dead ones. Luigi sent a silent prayer up to God as the hill gradually got closer. They were going to do it after all. A flap of wings and startled squawking caught his attention. He looked up to see a flock of birds fly into the sky. Francis was glaring after them.

"I hate birds." he muttered.

"Yeah, birds are dicks." Zoey agreed. "Wait. I gotta write this down." She quickly pulled out the notepad and wrote it down before stiffening as the howl of an approaching Horde was heard.

Doesn't this bring back memories? Luigi thought sarcastically, remembering when the group had been traveling through a cornfield to a farm house where the military would rescue them. It had been dark outside so poor Louis had no idea he had startled some blackbirds until it was too late. Apparently birds, along with car alarms and just about anything that made a loud noise, attracted Hordes.

While he was lost in thought, his teammates were already gunning down the Infected running towards them. Thinking quickly, Luigi took out his pipe bomb.

"Throwing the zombie chew toy!" he called as he threw the object. The Infected immediately turned their attention away from the Survivors and focused instead on the pipe bomb, surrounding it as they attacked the grenade. Luigi couldn't help but smile wickedly at the cloud of blood that flew in different directions when the pipe bomb exploded.

His ears picked up the sounds of thundering footsteps and he whipped around in time to see a Charger barrel into Louis, seizing the hurt man with its massive arm. Zoey let out a shocked cry while Francis wasted no time in running after the Special Infected as it began pummeling the former business man into the ground.

"Help!" Louis cried, struggling helplessly to free himself.

Francis pelted the Charger's back with bullet after bullet from his combat shotgun until the zombie finally died. He then proceeded to help the African American up. "You okay Louis?" he questioned.

"Thanks man," Louis said through gritted teeth. "I'm okay. Just gotta shake it off."
Luigi sighed in relief which turned into a yelp as pain raked his back. An Infected had snuck up behind him and clawed mercilessly at him, shredding his green long-sleeved shirt and piercing his flesh. Angrily he smacked it away before quickly killing it with a couple of bullets.

"Incoming!" Rae shouted.

Confused by her words, Luigi looked around. Suddenly he was leaping back when a green glop hit the ground where he was standing just before. A Spitter had arrived and, as he looked for it, spotted it near the tree he had been leaning against. The teen was about to kill it, but a rain of bullets showered past and Bill, quite pleased with himself, watched as the Spitter fell forward dead. The war veteran nudged him and nodded in the direction of the hill. Luigi nodded and raced toward it.

"Gotcha Bill." he called over his shoulder.

Zoey was about to reach it when a Hunter suddenly pounced her. Feeling his stomach turn inside out, Luigi picked up the pace until he was literally flying towards her. He had to kill the Hunter before it did a great deal of damage to the student.

"Get it off! Get if off!" Zoey screamed while she tried pushing it off her to no avail. When she spotted him racing toward her, however, her brown eyes went from glistening with horror to relief. A second later she was getting to her feet and glaring down at the dead corpse of the Hunter. "Thanks for that, Weegee."

Luigi smiled and nudged her. "You're welcome Zo," He then grew serious. "Get over the hill. I'll go make sure everyone's okay."

As Zoey hesitated, he turned back around to assess the situation so far. Rae fought alongside Louis while Bill and Francis had gone back-to-back. So far the four were doing well against the Horde. But as Luigi went over to go help them, a choking sound from Zoey made him stop in his tracks.

"What is it?" he asked turning back to her quizzically.

"Two Tanks."

"What?"

"TWO. TANKS."

"No way."

"Luigi!" Zoey pointed in a direction. "There are two fucking Tanks coming!"

Luigi turned around and his jaw dropped.

She was right, two Tanks were quickly approaching. Bill, Francis, Louis, and Rae were too busy with the Horde to notice the dangerous threat. With a punch, one of Tanks made the picnic table soar into the air and crash mere inches past the four Survivors. They stilled, froze, and turned to look at the two Tanks.

"Fucking run!" Luigi screeched just as the Tanks spotted the Survivors and lumbered towards them.

Behind him Zoey dug into her pockets until she pulled out a molotov. She cocked her arm back and, locking her gaze on one of the Tanks, threw it. "Fire in the hole!"

As the molotov zipped past and burst into flame on the ground in front of Zoey's targeted Tank, Rae began helping Louis toward the hill while Francis and Bill opened fire. Luigi rushed over to help the two while Zoey raced over to help Rae with Louis.

The Tanks were on them now. Francis and Bill quickly dodged out the way as the one not on fire tried throwing a chunk of the ground at them. Luigi managed to jump back as the piece exploded into smaller pieces in front of him. Smirking, he bent down to pick up the largest thing of rubble he could find and chunked it back at the Tank. It roared angrily as the bit of ground bonked it square in the forehead.

Turning tail, Luigi ran as the Tank charged with the intent to kill him. He pointed his combat rifle over his shoulder and pulled the trigger, not caring about the ringing in his ear. Right now all he cared about was putting distance between himself and the Tank. Glancing past the abomination behind him, he spotted Francis and Bill flankingthe Tank on fire. Zoey rushed in to join the fray just as the Tank tried to punch Francis. The teen couldn't help but smirk as the Special Infected glanced furiously from one Survivor to the next, not sure on who to attack.

Misfortune chose this time to strike.

Luigi let out a startled gasp when he lost his footing on the grass and crashed to the floor. Groaning, he struggled to his feet and his nose was throbbing. He heard a furious grunt and rolled away just in time when the Tank proceeded to slam its fist into the ground. He leapt to his feet and took off running again while firing.

"Out of the way moron!" a shout of warning made him duck. Rae threw a molotov at the Tank, finding enough time to rush back to the tree and grab one.

"Nice." Luigi commented, zipping past. Rae ran after him, matching him stride-by-stride. The Tank was angrier than ever and glared after the retreating teenagers venomously. It dug its large fingers into the ground and proceeded to rip up a piece of Earth and chunk it at them. Rae let out a scream of pain when it nailed her on the back and crumpled to the ground. Luigi skidded to a halt and crouched next to her.

"Rae! Aw man, are you okay?" he asked worriedly, eyes wide at the unexpected attack.
The teen winced while she struggled to find her footing. "I'm alright, just–Luigi look out!"

"Wha–shit!" Luigi's questioning statement turned into a scream as he was sent flying back by a powerful punch from the Tank. He managed to land on his feet, skidding against the grass but nonetheless falling back on his ass. "Damn what a cheap shot." he growled to himself.

His eyes widened when he saw the Tank beating Rae mercilessly into the ground. Her combat shotgun had been flung from her hand; she had even lost her dual pistols. High-pitched screams of agony would escape her every time the Tank struck.

Luigi scrambled to his feet, but before he could go help her he felt something wrap around his waist. Looking down he saw a Smoker's tongue and found himself stumbling to the floor when the Special Infected reeled him back. He struggled against the hold and gagged lightly as the tongue curled around his throat. The reeling stopped, and for a minute he was confused until he felt ragged claws cutting his flesh. He released a scream for help.

Unfortunately for him, his teammates were too busy dealing with the Tanks and he could only stare in disbelief as none of them abandoned the fight to come help him. He tried calling out for help again when his vision suddenly went haywire. The teen couldn't see anything except for a yellowish-greenish color. Did he mention it smelled bad too? He cursed aloud, realizing a Boomer had vomited on him.

I swear to God, that Boomer's dead for being a douche! Luigi vowed silently while he continued to struggle against the Smoker's hold. An idea suddenly popped into his head and he started kicking frantically at it. The Smoker seemed bewildered at this and he heard it let out a frustrated cough as he delivered a good one to its shin, causing it to release him. Grinning evilly, Luigi picked up his combat rifle and killed the Smoker.
He started coughing against the green fumes rising from the corpse and backed away. Gurgling sounds made him stop and turn around. Though his vision was still blurred by the boomer bile, the shape of the obese Special Infected wasn't hard to miss and he quickly delivered a bullet into its belly, relishing in the boom as it died. Unfortunately he happened to be too close and got recovered in vomit.

"This sucks!" Luigi muttered and made his way back to his teammates, hearing in disgust as his shoes made sucking noises. By now they should have dealt with the Tanks. Too bad he hadn't noticed the fresh wave of Infected coming up behind him. When he finally heard them coming, however, it was too late.

Luigi stared around in fear as he was surrounded and winced with pain as they attacked him. He cursed as the bile blocked his view of his enemies and fired crazily at any dark blobs he could see. With a sickening feeling, he realized that the whole damn Horde was attacking him and it was all that damned Boomer's fault!

"Dammit!" yelped Luigi, falling to the ground after getting nailed a good one. "Help!"
He took out his dual pistols from his holster and began firing into the Horde. The boomer bile had completely vanished, but the Infected seemed to not care as they continued to claw him, kick him, and even stomp on him. And even though he was firing away at them madly, it didn't seem to help his situation at all. A high-pitched scream escaped his throat. "Ahhh!"

The familiar feeling of horror dawned on him and he continued yelling for help, occasionally shrieks of pain escaping him. His teammates would know where he was, drowned in a mass of Infected. Bleakly he wondered why they weren't helping him, but when he started seeing some of his assailants fall to the ground dead, he heaved a great sigh of relief. Someone had come to save him.

It was when the Infected began to lessen did Luigi fully see who his savior was. Bill was shooting at the zombies like the war veteran the teen knew he was. With his help, the two Survivors managed to kill them all and Bill set to work on getting Luigi to his feet.
"Probably stings like hell, but it ain't gonna kill ya. Up an' at 'em soldier, time to move." the old man encouraged.

"I'm not a soldier yet, Bill," Luigi croaked and winced. "And I don't think I want to be." He paused when he realized that he couldn't see out of his left eye and began to freak. "I-I can't see out of my left eye! Did those bastards gouge it out?"

"Relax kid!" Bill said quickly. "They didn't gouge your eye out, it's just swollen shut."

Luigi sighed. "Thank God." Rae drifted into his mind. "Rae! Is she okay?"

Bill placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He nodded toward Francis who carried Rae piggy-back style. Luigi felt his un-swollen eye grow wide when he saw her right leg splayed uselessly out behind her. His gaze swiveled toward the burnt corpse of the Tank that had been attacking her and fury washed over him.

"Calm down son," Bill spoke, distracting him for a second. He turned to look up at the war veteran. "The Tank just broke her leg. You should be glad it didn't kill her."

Nodding quietly, Luigi limped behind the old man as he walked back to the others. Louis and Zoey were engaging in what looked like a serious conversation, one of the two occasionally glancing at Rae making it obvious that their talk was about her. Francis was shooting at the remaining Infected and miraculously Rae joined him. Luigi couldn't help but smile at the sight. The Tank may have broken her leg, but not even that would stop her from killing some sons of bitches. Taking out his first-aid kit, he stumbled over to Rae and began patching her up. She twisted her head around to look at him questioningly.

"Damn boy," she breathed. Luigi didn't pause from his work as she went on. "Those bastards got you good."

Luigi frowned and was about to answer when a curse came from Louis. The two teens and Francis glanced over to see him shaking his sniper rifle with eyebrows furrowed. After a minute or two of repeating the action, the former business man angrily gave up and looked at his teammates in frustration.

"I'm out of ammo!" he informed.

Francis spoke before anyone else could. "Why don't you just go get some–oh yeah. Never mind." the biker trailed off, just now realizing what had become of the ammo. "Sucks for you then."

Louis glared, but before he could make a sharp retort Zoey threw her AK-47 onto the ground. "Mine's out too!" she announced unhappily.

Bill frowned and checked his combat rifle before he too threw it on the ground beside the AK-47. "Wasted the last of my bullets saving Luigi's ass." he told them.

"Well excuse me for–I'm out too." Luigi began to retort, but changed his tone as he tried reloading his combat rifle. "Francis is right, this does suck. Fuck the Tank that punched the table."

Rae didn't even bother checking her combat shotgun and discarded it. Francis spotted an Infected running toward them and happily shot its head off with his combat shotgun before dropping it. The biker then pulled out his dual pistols and began aiming them around randomly.

"Are we going to move or not?" he demanded, looking expectantly at the hill. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to finally get out of this nightmare."

He then proceeded to stare dumbfounded when everybody else walked past him to the hill during his words. Francis grumbled something under his breath and chased after his teammates, taking up the rear. It seemed strangely quiet and there weren't any Infected to be seen except for the occasional Special Infected, but they were quickly taken care of.

Before the six Survivors knew it, they had made it to the foot of the hill. Louis sighed with relief while Luigi pumped a fist in the air. Bill looked happy as he began making the first steps upward only to pause suddenly and skitter back down. This confused the others as they exchanged glances with one another at the look of pure horror written over the war veteran's face. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong with… Holy shit." Francis began to ask only to trail off as the biggest Horde–bigger than the one back at Rayford–the group had ever seen came rushing over the top of the hill.

"We can't fight against that many Infected with just pistols!" Rae wailed while Luigi braced himself for the threat.

Louis was freaking out. "Oh shit, SHIT, SHIIT!" he screamed with fear. "What do we do?"
Bill was trying to calm them down. "Relax, people, relax!" he shouted above the screeching of the oncoming Horde. "I'll think of a plan, you just have to calm down."

Zoey's eyes never left the Horde as she addressed him. "Hurry, they're getting close."

Eyebrows furrowing, Bill crossed his arms and looked down at the ground as he tried to come up with a plan. While this was happening, the other Survivors decided to take out as many of Infected as they could with their dual pistols. When three minutes passed and the old man hadn't spoken yet, Zoey took it upon herself to yell at him.

"Bill! They're getting closer!"

The words sent his head snapping up and he fixed his blue eyes on his comrades determinedly. "Francis, do you have that bile bomb on you?" When Francis nodded he turned to Louis. "Still have that pipe bomb, Louis?"

"Sure do." Louis replied and held it up.

"Good, and I have my molotov. On a count of three, I want us to throw them in different directions. After that, haul ass and shoot. Got it?" Bill explained and when everyone nodded he turned to face the Horde. "1…"

Francis cocked his arm back with his hand gripping tightly onto the jar with the green liquid sloshing around inside.

"2…"

The Horde was literally upon them now.

"3!"

"Fight amongst yourselves ya damn vampires!" Francis shouted as he threw his bile bomb and it exploded on a male Common Infected unlucky enough to be in the way.

Louis threw his pipe bomb on the left flank of the Horde. "Grenade!"

After Bill threw his molotov onto the right flank, Luigi pushed back on his legs and took off up the hill. Zoey raced along besides him, covering his left side while he covered her right. Francis bounded past them with Rae on his back killing zombies in his path. Luigi turned back to find Bill and Louis not far behind them. Louis seemed to be limping badly, but he didn't let it stop him from picking up the pace until he was running along with him and Zoey. Bill joined them shortly, shooting over his shoulder at the Infected chasing after them.

An angry shout from ahead made them turn their heads in the direction it came from. At the very top of the hill Francis wrestled with a Jockey while Rae lay on the ground in pain. While trying to get the Special Infected off of him, the biker lost his footing and disappeared over the hill.

"Francis!" Zoey raced forward until she was skidding to a halt at the top. Luigi came up just in time to see both Francis and the Jockey tumble into a river none of them had known was there.

Just then screaming of agony tore the air. The brown-haired Survivor looked to see Infected swarming Rae and attacking her. She shot at them with little success and was screaming to get their attention. He turned back to Bill, Louis, and Zoey.

"Head for the river!" Luigi yelled. "I've got Rae. Just go!"

Bill nodded and went to go help Louis down the hill while Zoey hesitated. She gave him a long look, her brown eyes gleaming in worry. Only after Rae let out another scream did she race after Bill and Louis.

With his teammates heading for the river, Luigi turned to help Rae. He ran over, killing the Infected with his dual pistols. He suddenly felt something slam into him. In the next second he found himself pinned against the ground with a Hunter tearing into him. He struggled vainly, peeking past the Hunter at Rae still firing at her attackers. She was going to die if he didn't get to her.

Fury seared through Luigi as the sharp, knife-like claws tore away into his abdomen. He managed to free one of his arms and smirked up at the Hunter. In the next second he rammed his fist into its face, the blow having enough force behind it to fling it off him. "Cross me ever again you son a bitch," Luigi snarled as he punched it again before whipping out one of his dual pistols and aiming it directly at the Hunter's forehead, "you'll regret it."

Luigi raced past the Hunter's corpse where blood streamed out of the newly-formed hole in its forehead. He rushed over while killing the Infected around Rae at the same time.

"Thanks for coming back for me," Rae said, hissing through gritted teeth as the boy helped her onto his back.

"I'm not letting you die yet." Luigi told her solemnly as he began making his way down the hill.

Rae grunted and looked behind her to make sure no more Infected were coming. It was then that she realized Luigi's sides were stained with blood. "Luigi, you're bleeding! And it looks pretty bad."

"It's okay," he growled back through gritted teeth. Right now all he cared about was getting to the river. "It's nothing I can't handle."

He felt her hands roam his chest until they drew back when she let out a gasp. He could feel her sharp gray gaze on the back of his head as he continued toward the river. His heart started pounding against his chest when he spotted Bill, Louis, and Zoey
floundering against the current trying to reach the other side. His heart began pounding even harder when he didn't find any sign of Francis. Where did the biker go?

"No, it's not okay Luigi!" Rae smacked him upside the head. He ignored the sharp pain and concentrated on getting to the river. "Stop for a minute, take my health kit, and heal yourself."

Luigi shook his head. "I'm okay Rae. Honestly."

"Idiot! You're bleeding out! You green moron, heal yourself"

At her words he stopped. "No!" snarled Luigi and twisted his head to give her a hard stare. "We have not come this far to die now!"

"Well you're going to die if you don't use my first-aid kit to heal yourself!" Rae argued.

"Don't worry about me!" Luigi retorted. "I said I was going to be okay! Now I would appreciate it if you would shut the fuck up!"

Rae fell into a stubborn silence and the two reached the bottom of the hill in silence. As Luigi stood there wondering how he was going to get across the river while supporting Rae, he was unaware of the pounding footsteps quickly approaching. Only when the loud, roaring noise rattled his eardrums did Luigi realize that it was a Charger.

The impact from the Charger flung Rae off his back and, with a surprised yell, she plunged into the river. Luigi pounded his fists into the Charger's bulky right arm when it wrapped around his waist. He then realized with a jolt that the Charger was still rushing forward, oblivious to the river ahead.

Water clutched Luigi like a hand bigger than the Charger's and buffeted him from side to side. The icy cold of the torrent took his breath away. His arms and legs worked furiously as he tried to swim, but the weight of the Special Infected on his waist dragged him under. He had lost sight of Rae when the Charger attacked him; he could see nothing but the foam that bubbled all around him.

Suddenly he felt the Charger's right arm slip from his waist and he began swimming upwards. Had it drowned? He didn't care honestly. As his head broke the surface he gasped for air, managing to stay afloat as the racing torrent swept him downstream. He spotted Rae ahead of him, her eyes wild with fear. Kicking out strongly, Luigi closed the gap between them and, as the teen began to sink, he wrapped his arm around her.

"L-Luigi!" Rae began, but cut off as water filled her mouth. The extra weight had caused her rescuer to be dragged down.

All Luigi's instincts screamed at him to let Rae go and save his own life. But he made himself hold on while he forced his limbs to go on working and bring his drowning teammate back to the surface. As Luigi and Rae reappeared, Luigi caught sight of the river bank and struck out toward it, but his limbs were aching with weariness. Rae was a deadweight, unable to help him as well as herself due to the fact of her broken leg. Luigi knew that he could not let go of her, and his senses began to spin away into darkness as his head went under again.

Barely conscious, he made one more massive effort, thrusting at the water with his one arm and both legs. But when he resurfaced he could not see the bank, and he had lost all sense of direction. His limbs stiffened with panic as he knew he was going to drown. An urgent nudging made him groggily turn his head toward Rae, blinking water out of his bright blue eyes.

"Don't stop!" she encouraged him and he realized that she was pointing at something. "Look! The bank is over there! Come on Luigi, you can do it!"

Following her direction, the teen saw that she was right. The bank was closer to the two than he thought. Luigi splashed his way toward it with Rae helping him. Together the two teens managed to get close enough for him to thrust out a hand and grasp onto a thick branch jutting out over the river. Using the prop, he managed to pull himself and Rae the rest of the way.

Coughing and gasping, Luigi hauled Rae out the river first before following her. The teenage girl lay on her side breathing in air like a fish out of water.

Head swimming, vision distorted, Luigi tried crawling over to her, but collapsed. He tried lifting his head as four dark shapes came within line of sight, but he was too weak to even lift his pinkie finger. He tried calling out to them, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a shaky whimper.

His eyes suddenly closed and he gave way to dizzying blackness.