Left 4 Dead Fan Fiction
The Forgotten Survivors
by TheDark12
Chapter One - Alone in the Dark
Lauren was never a needy girl. She rarely wanted much attention to be happy, which was good because her parents worked a lot and couldn't always be around. But when they were, they always went out of their way to give her some of their attention.
As Lauren got older she became less and less reliant on her parents. She finished high school, got herself a full time job and bought herself her own red Honda that she adored. When her parents went away on business they left the house under her control. A young woman of twenty, Lauren was quite capable of taking care of herself and keeping the household affairs in order. And not once did she fear being at home alone.
Until today.
It had all started a week ago; news of a new strain of rabies infecting people in foreign countries flooded the media. Reporters had a field day reporting the 'impending crisis', not really believing that they could be right. People went about their daily lives as normal. Even Lauren had looked the other way at the time.
The whole situation didn't seem serious until the curfews set in. Entire suburbs were locked down with orders not to go outside after dark. From six in the evening, military vehicles and platoons lined the street. Lauren even heard reports that in some areas tanks were deployed. She never saw one. The military was spread too thin.
When the outbreak finally started there was nothing they could do to stop it. It spread like a cold: fast. By the time they knew it was airborne, it was too late. It couldn't be stopped. People were spreading the virus before they knew they had it. By the time one person realized they had the symptoms they had already infected dozens more.
Three days ago, permanent lock-down went into effect. It was a last minute plan. Everyone go into your homes and don't come out until it's over - that was all they said. But god knew, it would never be over.
* * *
Lauren sat in the living room of her parents’ house restlessly. Her doors were bolted shut, but she could still hear the sounds. She hadn't had the courage to look out her window in days. She called friends up until three days ago. Now they didn't answer. She called her parents up until two days ago. Now they didn't answer. All she had to do now was sleep and eat, sleep and eat and hope that help would come. It wasn't much of a plan, but she had nothing else.
* * *
Lauren watched the clock. Two minutes past eight. Time wasn't passing anymore. It was just hanging there. Lauren had her knees up to her chest and sat scrunched up in a little ball. She was hungry again. She walked to the kitchen. Opened the fridge. Yogurt. That was all that was left. Her dad's diet yogurt. At least it was something. Lauren grabbed the tub and spared a glance out of the kitchen window. It had a wonderful view of a pitch-black backyard. Beyond that there was a fence, beyond the fence, rows of houses in the distance.
The window of one house had a glow of a living room light. At least there's one other. Lauren thought to herself. Lauren snatched a spoon out of the top drawer and turned to head back toward the living room.
A blood curdling scream stopped her in her tracks.
Lauren's attention snapped back to the house with the yellow glow. Through the window a silhouette of a woman backed helplessly away from another silhouette; one of the infected. My god. The night's so silent I can hear her from here. The female silhouette backed out of view but the infected stopped in the center of the room. Then it pounced. Blindingly fast.
Lauren stared at the house in shocked awe. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't do anything. Lauren slowly forced herself to back away from the image. But she couldn't take her eyes off the window. She had never seen anything more shocking in her life. She couldn't-
*SMASH*
Lauren had just backed into a cabinet, knocking her mother's most valuable Persian vase into a glass top table. She leapt into the air and dropped the yogurt on the floor. Her pulse began to race. Not because she had just broken a hundred thousand dollar vase. But because the sound she had just made was loud. Easily as loud as that woman’s scream...
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Dear god. It's the front door! Lauren froze, spun, her eyes locked on the door. If I'm quiet maybe they'll think no one was here... Wait a second. Can they think? Lauren's mind went into overdrive, her pulse was racing faster than formula one. Think Lauren damn it, think!
Too late.
An arm burst through the front window and smashed it to pieces. The infected on the outside could see her. They went into a frenzy. They began scratching and moaning like mad, their action attracting more of them to the cluster. They were clawing the door to pieces, their hands were ragged and bloody from scratching so hard. Lauren tore her eyes away from the horrid images in the doorway and ran back into the kitchen. Right as the front door gave way.
Infected burst into the house and fanned out in every direction, picking up her scent and converging from all directions. And it was at that moment that Lauren noticed the movement outside the kitchen window too.
Oh my god. I'm going to die.
