Left 4 Dead Fan Fiction
A Prelude to Left 4 Dead
by Element118
Zoey scanned the radio, trying to find a station that would work. Her favorite station had cut out to static a few minutes ago, and now she was realizing that all the stations were out.
"The antennae is probably broken, sweet heart," her mother offered from the driver's seat next to her. "We'll have your father get it looked at when we get back home."
"Is he coming?" the girl asked, though already knowing the answer. Zoey's father, Edward Moretti, was a very successful man. He owned a construction company which held a very high reputation and was always getting contracts with some of the biggest companies in the city. But, as with most successful men, her father rarely had free time. He wasn't a bad father, though. He made time to spend with his daughter, and to make up for the time he couldn't spend with her, he would bathe her in gifts. Most would consider Zoey spoiled, but the girl would never ask for the gifts. They were more to ease her father's guilt than to pamper the girl.
"I told him to try his hardest," her mother said. "I know your father, he'll make it if he can." Zoey just sighed, not surprised by the answer. She stopped trying to find a working radio station, and turned to look out her window. She watched the buildings pass by as they drove through the city in which she had lived all her life. They were almost to her highschool, which was located near the center of the city. Her mother had ushered her into the car worrying that traffic would cause them to be late, but so far the roads had been eerily void of vehicles. Zoey paid that notion no more attention, however, for her mother's cell phone went off just then.
"It's your father," her mother said as she opened the mobile phone. Zoey sighed, guessing that her father was about to tell them that he wouldn't be able to make it. She turned her gaze back out the window, expecting her mother to hand her the phone any minute so that her father could apologize himself.
"Ed? What are you saying?" Zoey heard. She turned back, seeing a look upon her mother's face somewhere between worry and confusion. "Honey, I don't understand. Are you alright? What's all of that yelling? Why would we go to my mother's?"
Zoey's brow crinkled in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"Ed? Are you there?"
Her mother propped the phone to her ear with her shoulder, most likely to prepare to navigate the traffic up ahead about a block away that Zoey noticed out of the corner of her eye. She was looking at her mother, trying to decipher what was going on. She feared her father had been in an accident at some site he was overseeing. It had happened before, and her father had been in the hospital for four days after a crane lifting a pile of bricks had swung its load a bit too fast, catching her father's head as he walked by.
"Mom, what's wrong with—"
Suddenly, her mother gasped and swerved the car, causing Zoey to be thrown up against her door. Zoey looked out her window just in time to see a van slam into a display window of a retail store, the same car that had nearly smashed into the front of their car. The girl realized then that her mother had lost control of the car and was fighting to get the vehicle back onto the road, for they had been forced onto the walkway when her mother had swerved to avoid the out of control van. People were diving out of the way of the car, screaming all the while.
"Mom, look out!"
Too late.
They had entered an intersection, and Zoey's mother saw the oncoming delivery truck too late. It smashed into the driver's side of the car, and all Zoey saw after that was flying glass and dizzying blurs. Everything seemed to slow down as they were pushed by the truck, sparks flying everywhere. It seemed like it took years for everything to slow to a stop, and Zoey tried to focus her thoughts. Everything still seemed to be in slow motion. She looked down at her bloodied legs, and feared that they had been crushed. After a quick inspection, she realized they were only bruised and scrapped. The blood wasn't even hers, she realized to her horror. It was her mother's.
"Oh my God. No, no, no!" she screamed, seeing her mother slumped over the middle compartment of the front seat, her forehead resting upon Zoey's left thigh. "Please, God. No!"
The girl began to sob as she shook her mother's shoulder, hoping against all hope that her mother would be ok. She screamed out for help, looking for anyone nearby. But she realized then that her scream was drowned out by the screaming of those around her. Dozens of people scrambled every which way, seemingly oblivious to the wreckage. A woman sprinted by Zoey's window, bloodied and screaming, taking no notice of the girl. A man ran the other way, wide-eyed and terror stricken. He held a baseball bat, which was gory at one end. Another man came stumbling out of a department store on Zoey's side of the street, the side of his head covered in blood.
"Help, please!" the girl cried to the man. He looked at her blankly, seemingly confused. Zoey continued to sob. "Please....m–my mother, she's.—"
Just then, two other men came rushing out of the department store that the first man with the head wound had come out of. Zoey watched in confusion and terror as the two men tackled the confused man. The three bodies fell to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs. One of the men who had rushed out of the store began pummeling the tackled man with his fists while the other man bit into his forearm. The assaulted man cried out in agony, screaming for help. Zoey couldn't think straight at that moment, couldn't comprehend what was happening. Two more people came running out of the department store, this time a man and a woman. The woman let out a blood-curdling screech and joined in the violent frenzy, stomping wildly at the now limp body on the ground.
Zoey couldn't imagine feeling anymore horrified at that moment as she watched the three people beat and rip at the man on the ground until she noticed that the fourth who had exited the department store had spotted her. At that moment, the girl could make out the man's features as the two stared at each other. His face was dark and gray, as if he was ill. His eyes were milky white and pupil-less. The clothes that he wore were tattered and bloody, as were his hands. The man let out an unearthly shriek and sprinted towards Zoey like a demon from hell. She kept enough wits about her to unlock her seatbelt and scramble to get as far away from her window as possible. The man slammed into the car door with wild abandon and began reaching for the girl, snarling all the while. Zoey whimpered and did her best to kick at those gory hands, but she was too slow and the man was too determined. The man got a hold of the cuff of her jeans and held on violently against Zoey's flailing. She screamed for help, feeling as if she should be waking up from this nightmare by now.
The man began to pull her from the car....
