Left 4 Dead 2 Fanfic Part 1

A gunshot filled the air and Ellis turned on his heels to see her dead...

Ellis could see the gun in Nick's hand...

While he was running to grab a Medi Pack Nick had shot her...

The rest of what happened during the next couple of hours seemed like a blur...

Nick had dragged him away from her...

He had fought him but failed and before he knew what was what he was in a saferoom being held back by Coach while Rochelle talked soothingly to him trying to calm him down...

Nick had a bloodied nose.

The next day Nick found Ellis sitting by a lake near the safehouse throwing stones and staring blankly as the stones created ripples disappearing into the dark water.

“Hey Overalls!”

The mechanic didn't even turn towards Nick when he called him, he just kept throwing stones.

Nick sat down near him and looked out over the lake too.

“Ellis... You okay?”

Ellis simply shook his head in response.

Nick sighed.

“I know it's tough... But... It happens... We can't stop everytime someone falls... We just have to keep moving...”

“And if we can't move?”

“Try harder...”

Ellis sighed heavily.

“What's the point man...?”

Nick looked over at Ellis.

“Survival... Rescue maybe... Getting out of this hell hole anyway...”

Ellis shrugged.

“Yeah... But then what...? As far as I know all my friends and family could be dead...”

“Well I'd rather take the risk and find someone than not and never know...”

“Thing is...”

Ellis breath seemed to hitch as he forced himself to say it.

“She's dead...”

Nick nodded.

“Which is all the more reason to continue... Make her sacrifice worthwhile... And make those zombie bastards pay...”

Ellis stood up slowly and turned his back on Nick.

“Sacrifice...? More like an inconvienience to keep around...”

Nick stood up quickly and grabbed Ellis by the shoulder to turn him around to face him.

“If you have something to say to me Overalls spit it the fuck out.”

Ellis' eyes scanned up Nick's form before meeting his own.

“Way I see it... The zombies hurt her and shit, I'll make em' pay... But you, you pulled the trigger Nick...”

The conmans eyes looked wild for a moment.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Ellis expression remained the same.

“She was dying Ellis!”

The blonde was calm.

“I was gon' fix her up Nick... But before I could even get near her with that first aid kit you'd already gone and pulled the goddam trigger...”

Nick was right in Ellis' face now.

“Ellis I don't know what crazy little fantasy land you live in but her insides were on the outside she was in pain she was dying!”

Ellis shook his head.

“We could've saved her...”

“No Ellis, no we couldn't and the reason I had to pull the trigger is because you weren't enough of a man to put her out of her pain!”

Ellis remained still and silent.

“If you really cared about her you would've pulled that trigger and shown her some goddam mercy! Oh and if I ever land myself in that situation I'll ask Rochelle or Coach seeing as you're not man enough to handle it!”

The mechanic was looking at the ground now, he stayed silent until he was sure Nick had stopped talking.

“We're not all made of stone Nick...”

With that he walked into the saferoom and went into one of the bedrooms...

He sat on the side of the bed tears flowing freely down his face.

Nick ran a hand through his hair and sighed he walked into the safe room after Ellis and looked around the room, Rochelle shot him a look and pointed towards the bedroom Ellis had walked into. The conman walked cautiously up towards the door and pushed it open a crack to see Ellis with his hat laid down beside him on the bed, he was looking at something in his hands.

“I'm so sorry... It shoulda been me... Not you...”

Nick felt his stomach drop when he heard Ellis say this, the door made the tiniest sound and Ellis quickly pulled his hat back onto his head and put the thing he had in his hands back into his overalls, he lay back on the bed pulling his hat low on his face pretending to be asleep.

Nick approached one side of the bed and sat down.

“Ellis...?”

He reached out slowly to the peak of Ellis' cap to pull it up from his face but the mechanics hand grabbed the peak of the cap before Nick had a chance to pull it up. Ellis rolled over onto his side facing away from Nick his face was shiny with tear trails... This he knew, but he'd be damned if he'd let Nick see that what he'd said had gotten to him so badly.

“Ellis...?”

Later that night while the others were talking about their fallen friend and everything that had happened over the past two days Ellis sat by the safe room door quietly keeping an eye out for any infected.

Nick glanced back at Ellis, concern tugging at the corners of his mind about the fact that they hadn't heard a story about Keith in what felt like forever...

He didn't expect the mechanic to be perfectly okay, far from it, he just wished he'd say something, anything...

Ellis not speaking caused an abnormal silence to fall around the room and it made him uneasy...

“Hey Overalls!”

Ellis kept staring out the door.

“...Yea...?”

Nick turned around to face Ellis' back offering the bottle of vodka they'd found under one of the beds in the saferoom towards it.

“You want something to drink?”

Ellis simply shook his head and kept staring out through the metal grate in the door, sniper rifle resting across his lap.

“You sure? Might help you sleep...”

The mechanic shook his head still.

“I'm fine... You guys go rest... I'll take first watch.”

Nick stood up slowly and took another short swig from the vodka bottle before placing it still half full by Ellis.

“You've been keeping watch since sunset... How about you let me take over for a bit...?”

The mechanic sighed and kept staring out through the grate.

“S'okay Nick... I know I'm not gon' sleep tonight anyway...”

Nick looked away from Ellis the grisly scene from earlier still fresh in his memory.

<'Ellis... I'm not... Gonna make it...'

He'd kneeled down and held her hand...

Her blood was everywhere...

She was getting cold fast and her breath was hitching in her throat like it was becoming harder to breathe by the second.

'That's nonsense... Imma go grab a medi kit and patch you up... You'll be fine...'

He smiled at her as he tried to stand up but she held firm.

'Ellis please listen to me... I'm not going to get up this time...'

The mechanic had grinned at her.

'Like hell you're not!'

He had pulled his hand away running to the safe room, her breath was becoming even more ragged now, thats when she looked Nick in the eyes and pleaded with him.

'Nick... Please... I don't want to turn into one of them...'

He looked at her confused, unsure of what she meant.

'If I had the strength to lift a pistol I'd do it myself but...'

Nick looked into her blue eyes and looked away again shaking his head and turning from her.

'Nick...... Please...'

He could hear the desperation in her voice.

'Please...'

Nick closed his eyes and breathed out heavily, taking his pistol from his belt and turned slowly back towards her.

'Are you sure this is what you want?'

She nodded and coughed, blood ran from the corner of her mouth and she smiled.

'Promise me one thing...?'

Nick knelt down beside her and nodded.

'Look after them... Keep an eye on El for me... Tell him I said if he ever does get to open that ranch... He damn well better name at least part of it after me...'

Nick nodded unsure of exactly what she meant.

Stepping back he held the pistol at arms length and aimed it at Eva's head.

'Thank you Nick... For everything...'

The conman's hand was shaking as he squeezed the trigger...

Eva closed her eyes...

The air filled with the sound of gunfire...

Ellis ran around the corner and taking in the scene in front of him dropped the medi pack and ran towards Eva.

'Eva...? Please say something... Anything...'

He put his fingers gently under her chin and tilted her head up only to watch it fall down to the left making the bullet hole plain to see.

Ellis looked slowly around at Nick who was still holding the gun outwards smoke rising from the end of the barrel.

'N-Nick...? Why...? Why the hell d'you do that?!'

The mechanic stared at Nick as he held Eva in his arms.

His face was full of untold pain as tears slowly trailed down his face dripping onto Eva's closed eyes.

Nick snapped out of it as he heard more undead coming their way.

'Ellis we gotta move... Come on...'

The mechanic sighed and standing up slowly he tried to pick Eva up into his arms, Nick pulled him out of the way just as a charger whizzed by them causing him to drop her body to the ground.

'There's no time Ellis come on!'

Ellis shoved Nick out of his way as more zombies rounded the corner.

'I can't just leave her there!'

Nick caught Ellis by the arm and forcefully dragged him towards the safe room door as the zombies distracted by Eva's freshly dead corpse started tearing at her flesh.

'No!!! For the love of God Nick let me go!'

The mechanic shouted as the zombies tore her flesh from her bones, her blood spattering their dead eyes and filthy faces, while her face kept an expression of sheer serenity.

Nick dragged Ellis into the safe room and Coach barred the door closed.

The mechanic watched as the zombies crowded around until not even her face was visible, Nick sat him down at the back of the safe room and Coach stood in front of the barred door keeping an eye on the zombies outside.

Ellis' expression was one of pure pain.

He ran his hands through his hair knocking his cap off in the process then rested his face into his hands sobbing heavily.

'If only I hada been faster... She'd still be here...'

Nick knelt down beside Ellis and laid a hand on his shoulder which he roughly shrugged off.

He turned to Nick with hatred in his eyes.

'Don't fuckin' touch me...'

He then stood up and walked into one of the bedrooms.

Nick wiped his face with his hand, it was then he realised his nose was bleeding.>

Nick looked at Ellis' back once more before heading into the bedroom he and Ellis should have been sharing.

He lay down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

Nick's sleep was weirdly dreamless...

He would wake with a start every so often only to realise the noise he was hearing was a gunshot from Ellis' sniper rifle.

Ellis picked up the vodka bottle and took a long swig from it. He looked out through the grate in the door, there didn't appear to be anymore zombies close by... Listening carefully for a minute or two and hearing nothing but silence he stood up and took one more swig from the bottle of vodka. Slowly he put his sniper rifle down and approached the door of the saferoom, as quietly as he could he unbarred the door and walked outside, then reaching his hand through the grate of the saferoom slid it back into place. He picked up the bottle of vodka from the ground and started to walk out into the woods.

Nick's eyes shot open at the sound of the saferoom door being barred up again. He listened for a minute.

<There is no way in hell that was a gun...>

He got up fast and walked outside the bedroom, there propped up against the wall he saw Ellis' sniper rifle and his pistols left on the ground beside it.

“Fuck...”

Nick grabbed and quickly reloaded Ellis' sniper rifle before going out after him.

The conman looked left and right with his torch for any infected before barring the saferoom door again and going out after Ellis.

<He shot all of the infected around here...? Was he planning on running off...?>

Nick listened for a moment, he knew he couldn't waste any time if Ellis was unarmed and took off towards the first sound human like sound he heard.

The desire to call out to his team mate was almost overwhelming...

He knew the only thing he would attract by doing that would be more zombies...

<Ellis for the love of fucking Christ...>

The pitch blackness of the forest surrounded him, the only illumination supplied by the light of his torch, he knew damn well this was dangerous, but if someone didn't go out and get the kid chances are he'd be dead before sunrise.

Just then he heard a bottle smash his head shot around like someone had just punched him.

<Ellis...>

Ellis threw a molitov to the ground and watched as it created a nice warm fire.

“Come on you sons a' bitches!”

He took another swig of vodka before throwing the empty bottle at an approaching zombie and hitting it square in the head, sending the zombie sprawling to the ground.

Nick was running now, hoping that there weren't any bear traps or pitfalls around or else Rochelle and Coach might be down two team members tonight.

“Come on you sons a' bitches!”

Nick could hear Ellis' voice as clear as day, somewhere in his head he wondered what else could...

This unasked question was answered when he heard a hunter screech.

<Shit!>

With that he started to run even faster.

Ellis heard the hunter screech and started shouting even more.

“Come on you stupid bastard!”

Nick ran as fast as he could through trees and hedges...

“Fuck... You guys are slow...”

The hunter was getting closer, but he could see light now...

“And ugly...”

Ellis was shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Where's a fuckin' horde when you need one?”

Nick could see Ellis' outline now...

The hunter screeched and pounced...

A gunshot sounded...

Ellis turned his head towards the gunshot, then looked down to see a dead hunter at his feet.

He turned back again to see Nick step out from the shadows breathless the gun still aimed and smoking.

The mechanic looked Nick in the eyes then let his eyes trail away to the hunter at his feet.

“...Ellis...”

Ellis sighed heavily and turned away from Nick, but Nick aproached him and grabbed his shoulder.

“Come on... We should get back...”

Ellis simply shook his head and removed Nick's hand from his shoulder.

“I don' wanna go back...”

Nick sighed impatiently.

“Look Ellis... We can't stay here... We need to go back, Coach and Rochelle need us...”

Once again Ellis shook his head.

“Look man... We both know I'm burden on ya'll already... Now that shes gone I don' even feel like tryin' anymore... I run inta trouble all the damn time... It was only a matter o' time 'fore somethin' took me out... I figure it may as well be my choice...”

Nick dropped the sniper rifle and his pistols down onto the ground.

“Then I guess you're killing us both...”

Ellis looked at Nick slightly shocked.

“Wha...? Man don' be stupid... You're the best shot we have...”

The gambler sat casually down on a rock, knowing they probably didn't have much time before they attracted all kinds of infected, he had to be careful with this gamble.

“Was risky enough getting out here in one piece... There's no way I'll make it all the way back too...”

Ellis looked at Nick, not believing him.

“Odds are against it kid... I gamble remember?”

Nick pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit up.

“My last one, I was saving it... But... If we're doing this I figure nows as good a time as any...”

He could see Ellis move out of the corner of his eye but didn't want to seem like he cared too much.

“Fine... I'll go back with ye... But only 'til we get near that saferoom then I'm outta there...”

Nick picked up the sniper rifle, leaving the two pistols for Ellis to take, if he could get him near the saferoom maybe he could figure out a way to get him back into it...

“Hey Overalls... You have any idea of the way back?”

Ellis nodded guilt marring his features...

“Yea... I was out 'round here earlier today... It's not far... I reckon maybe ten minutes away from the safehouse... Might take a lil longer since it's dark...”

Nick nodded realising Ellis had in fact planned this and silence ensued.

The walk back to the safehouse was quiet. Only two infected crossed their path and were easily dealt with, Ellis stopped a few yards away from the safehouse and Nick turned to face him.

“Guess this is where we part ways Nick...”

Nick nodded...

But as Ellis turned away, Nick out of ideas and desperate grabbed him from behind attempting to drag him back into the safe house.

What he hadn't bargained for however was Ellis' fighting back and getting loose.

Nick made to grab his arm again but Ellis had other plans.

When Nick forced him to turn around this time Ellis pointed one of the pistols at his own head.

Nick let go of Ellis and stepped back.

“Ellis...”

There was a hardened look to the mechanics eyes that Nick hadn't witnessed before, Ellis was actually serious about this...

He had to think fast...

“Really Ellis... You're gonna kill yourself now is that it? After us risking our lives to keep your ass safe and this is how you repay us?”

The mechanic stared at the ground.

“Ya'll won' gotta worry 'bout me no more...”

Nick took his chance.

<If I play this right...>

“I guess two down three to go... I gotta admit I was surprised you weren't the first one to go...”

The mechanics eyes shot up from the ground to look at Nick.

“Then again... Eva wasn't the brightest either...”

Ellis regarded him coldly.

“Hell... Dumb bitch couldn't even pull the trigger herself...”

Ellis had the gun pointed at Nick now.

<Bingo...>

“Take... That... Back...”

Nick turned and feigned surprise that Ellis was pointing a gun at him.

“Ellis, put the gun down...”

He took a few steps forward only to have Ellis' finger find the trigger.

“No...”

Nick looked Ellis square in the eyes hoping that this was a bluff he could call.

“Then pull the trigger...”

Nick was sweating slightly now as Ellis cocked the gun that was aimed at him.

Ellis hands were shaking as he took aim his eyes hardened as if urging himself to shoot...

The gambler kept his hands by his sides hoping his poker face was holding up, bravery in the face of death wasn't an easy thing to maintain.

Finally Ellis looked away from Nick and dropped the gun to the ground.

“I can't...”

Nick sighed a genuine sigh of relief and approached Ellis slowly.

“I'm sorry Ellis...”

The mechanic was breathing deeply and slowly as though he was trying to calm down.

“I take it all back... Eva wasn't dumb...”

He took a few steps closer.

“She was a bright young woman...”

He got closer to Ellis.

“And she cared for you Overalls...”

He picked the pistol up off the ground and put it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“So much in fact...”

He slowly reached out for Ellis' arm.

“That she made me promise her something...”

Ellis turned towards Nick and Nick wrapped his hand around Ellis' arm leading him into the saferoom, then he sat him down took the other pistol from Ellis' belt and put it on the ammo table along with his sniper rifle and the pistol Ellis had dropped.

With that he bolted the door closed again and sat down on the floor against a wall.

“What did she make you promise...?”

Nick sighed not wanting to make eye contact.

“She made me promise to keep an eye on you...”

Ellis sighed and Nick swore he saw a ghost of a smile cross his face before he closed his eyes.

“Thanks Nick...”

Nick grabbed the sniper rifle from the table and sat near the door.

A loud yawn could be heard from Ellis' direction.

“Guess none of us are made of stone all the time...”

Nick looked thoughtfully out through the door thinking about this then looked back at Ellis sound asleep on the saferoom floor.

<You could be right kid...>