Who Says Always Lasts Forever @l4d2always - Tumblr Blog

Always Chapter 5

Title: Always

Disclaimer: I definitely don’t own anything from valve!

Warnings: graphic violence, zombies, eventually smut.

Pairing: nellis

Summary: They made it through Savannah, through the everglades of Florida, they even made it across the bridge in New Orleans. But in a cruel twist of fate, the group must abandon hope and their rescue, when the military turns on them. Something much bigger is going on, a battle that surpasses the humans vs the infected. Things are changing, and the only beacon of light is an island off the coast.

Amazing art done by dattongue

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Always Chapter Five

As soon as the door was open the room became clouded with a light wave of smoke, the dark swirls clinging to the ceiling. The groans and growls of the infected were loud and nerve wrecking. Ellis didn’t like having his back to the zombies, but he wanted to be able to have an option of a sneak attack in order to keep the infected at a lower number for Nick and Rochelle, he was going to need to suck it up. Listening with bated breath, Ellis’s hands tightened on the crowbar between his fingers. After just a few more seconds, Ellis couldn’t take anymore. He peeked around the corner of the mattress, wanting to see what was the hold up.

Dozens of pale milky white eyes snapped to him in an instant, their hungry gaze causing his skin to prickle. “Shit,” he whispered, dodging behind the bed again, heart racing. A collective roar echoed all throughout the hall.

“Jesus,” Rochelle whispered, “how many are there!”

Ellis could hear Coach grunting, trying to force the door closed after four blood shoes dashed past the hick and headed straight for Nick and Rochelle who swung with all their might. The bodies dropped to the floor, adding to the strange obstacle course Rochelle had constructed.

“Okay, let another one in!” Rochelle shouted.

Ellis stood straight, deciding a sneak attack was pointless in a room this small before cracking open an elderly woman's skull, gritting his teeth and turning his head away as her blood splattered on his face. “Ugh,” he groaned, yanking the curved metal teeth out of the splintered cranium. “Gross.”

An infected raced past him, focused squarely on Nick who just brought the wood down on its forehead with a tight, bored expression. Ellis looked over to Coach to see him grunting, his face a darker shade than normal as he tried to shove the door closed. There were arms and hands shoving between the door and forcing it to open. Coach’s feet began to scrape the floor as the massive amount of infected all piled against him.

“Shit! I can’t hold them off!”

Ellis’s heart began to race in his chest again, he swallowed his thickened saliva as he shoved forward, twisting and turning to avoid tripping over the carefully assembled barricade. He rushed to Coach’s side, swinging his crowbar down on the infected who had managed to shove not only its head, but its upper torso into the room. “Fuck,” Coach wheezed, his eyes glazed and wet from the smoke surrounding him. The infected’s dead body was pinned between the door jam and the door itself, slumped and shaking as other infected tried to shove past it. Ellis just swung his weapon down again, dealing with at least five infected before the door was just too far open to be shove closed again.

With a hoarse cry, Coach was shoved back against the wall as the door burst open and at least a dozen heads bobbed, fighting to get into the room first. “No!” Ellis gasped, bringing his arms up to cover his face and a small woman leapt at him, the momentum knocking them both back into the suitcases and broken pieces of wood. Ellis shouted in pain, his eyes wide as infected swarmed him. Some ran past, trampling him as they went, heading for Nick and Rochelle who quickly became outnumbered. Coach was trying to wrestle the door closed again but it was pointless, there were too many bodies in the way.

Ellis gasped in pain, trying to shield his head as the woman slammed her small fists on his face. There were kicks and stomps being dealt all over his body and his sight became heavy and fuzzy. He couldn’t even think about what was happening anymore, just trying to curl into himself in order to shield his body, but it didn’t work. The small woman was in the way and he was tucked in between shifting legs, all shoving toward him and leaving no room for any movement. He wasn’t sure if it was the smoke or if he was just passing out, but everything became much darker than before and he sent a little prayer above, hoping that his family was alright and that they would be safe without him.

Suddenly, Coach was able to shove past the infected, bashing at their heads with the table side lamp. Ellis didn’t know where he got it, but he couldn’t care less, struggling to breath as Coach yanked and tugged, trying to pull him up and out of the mass of screaming bodies, all clinging and kicking at him. Jerking with one arm and swinging out the with other, Coach was able to disorientate enough of them to pull Ellis up and shove him backwards into the empty hall, allowing himself to be swarmed.

“Coach,” Ellis choked, toppling to the ground with a shout of pain, gasping at the charred ceiling. God he hurt, he hurt so fucking bad and he was totally winded from all the abuse not only to his body, but his head as well. That little woman had a lot of upper body strength…He knew he needed to pull himself together and get up but it was really hard to even think, let alone move. There was starting to be a lot of smoke and he felt a flicker of fear. Even if they did manage to get downstairs, was there anything left or was it completely engulfed in flames?

A pale face appeared in his vision and Ellis flinched, instinctively kicking his legs out. But he completely missed and groaned in pain. It was probably a good thing he had no aim because Nick growled, leaning down and heaving the boy up. “Don’t fucking kick me, kid.” Ellis tried to nod but just swayed, his stomach churning as the room began to swim dangerously. “Jesus,” Nick murmured. “You look like shit.”

Coach and Rochelle stumbled out of the room, stepping over and on the dead bodies as they came into sight. Rochelle gasped, her dark face pale and sickly looking as she laid her eyes on Ellis. “Oh my God!”

“Do I really look that bad?” He asked, clinging to Nick’s bloody suit. “I feel that bad…”

“Are you okay to walk,” Coach asked, looking extremely concerned. His dark eyes looked frightened and exhausted.

“I...I recon so.” Ellis tried to stand on his own. Yes it hurt, yes he was dizzy, and yes he was sure vomit was on its way, but he just swallowed it all down and took his crowbar from Coach’s large hand. “Yeah, ‘m okay.”

None of them looked convinced but they all knew there was nothing they could do. They needed to get a move on if they wanted a chance of making it out of there alive. So with heavy foot falls, they all walked down the long corridor and tried to find a way downstairs.

~*~

It was going well. They had made it down another floor, having been lucky enough to find another stairwell. Unfortunately, the rest of the flight was on fire but at least they were getting closer. This hallway, unlike the previous one, was practically empty except for one lone infected who was pounding on a door that had a really high pitched hissing coming from it. The ringing got louder until, in mid swing, the infected was blasted apart as the door exploded. The bang was loud and the survivors jumped, alarmed.

“Shit!” Nick swore, his face angry as the hall quickly caught fire. “Goddammit!”

“What now,” Ellis asked, swaying on bent knees. Rochelle bit her lip, ignoring the blood beading on her teeth from the cut having been reopened in the brawl upstairs. With a deep breath she forced the only option out into the open.

“I guess we need to go back out on another ledge.”

“No,” Coach cut in. “Oh hell no.” He shook his head, nose flaring. Nick, who was standing beside Rochelle stiffened, being careful not to look at anything besides the red flames eating away at the carpet.

“We don’ got much of’a choice, Coach. We need to get over to the other side ‘fore the whole hall is lit up.” Ellis sighed, opening the door closest to the the flames.

Rochelle nodded, her face grim. “He’s right, guys. We need to push on.” She followed him into the room, noticing it was much darker than the first time they did this. Not just because of the black smoke filling the whole hotel, but because the sun was dipping low on the horizon, disappearing behind buildings in the distance, glowing with a faint orange shade.

“This just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” Nick grumbled, slinking into the room and making sure to keep a good distance between himself and Coach. His eyes were watchful as the dark man rubbed his sweaty palms on his khaki pants.

“Okay, I know you’re not going to like this, but I think you should go first, Nick.”

“What.” Nick’s eyes left Coach’s large form to focus on Rochelle instead. “You’re not fucking serious.”

But she was. He could see it in her eyes. “Serious as a heart attack.”

“Oh fuck no,” he shook his head. “Like hell I’m going first.”

“Nick, if I didn’t push you off earlier, I’m not going to do it now,” Coach sighed, propping himself against the wall with one scraped up forearm.

“Why me,” Nick demanded, ignoring Coach, obviously not believing him for a second.

“Because you have a gun,” Rochelle answered easily. “You can shoot any infected that head our way. It’s much more safer than trying to knock them down with pieces of wood.” She held hers up for clarification.

“She’s right,” Ellis agreed. His face was beaten and bruised, a nasty cut across the bridge of his nose and his lip was busted. His cheeks were littered in black smudges and the red across his mouth was dried and brown looking. He looked gruesome, one eye beginning to swell shut and dripping blood from a gash on his forehead. From what Nick could see of his exposed body, Ellis’s arms were purple and blue and from the limp and strange breathing pattern, he was a lot more colorful under his clothing.

“Unless you want to hand over your gun Nick, this is the safest way.”

“Fuck no,” Nick growled, walking up to the large window and picking up a chair beside it. With a mighty swing, he shattered the glass and stepped out into the void. He didn’t bother looking to see who was behind him. From the stench of sweat and the massive amount of body heat, he knew it was Coach. He half expected Rochelle or Ellis to walk behind him in order to keep them apart. When he thought about it though, this was probably an attempt to get them to trust each other again.

“Not a chance in hell,” he muttered to himself under his breath, hunching his shoulder and brandishing his gun before him, the pathetic stick of wood tucked in his inner jacket pocket. As they were making their way down the ledge, Ellis spoke up.

“We should head over to the mall. The guy on the whirly bird said that was the next closest one.”

“What the fuck is a whirlybird?” Nick grunted, stepping over shattered glass and charred pieces of curtains from the explosion.

Ellis gave a small laugh. “It’s a chopper, Nick.”

“Then call it a damn chopper.”

Ellis snorted from behind Coach and Nick could hear they eye roll in his voice. “Hey, I’ll call it what I like, fancy suit.”

Rochelle cut in, her voice quiet and a little sad. “If you talked to the pilot, why didn’t you get on the helicopter?”

Ellis didn’t answer and for once, his silence was more irritating than his voice. Nick could tell he wasn’t the only one intrigued by the lack of an answer, but no one pushed it. Without warning, there was a loud sound of shattering glass and Nick could hear Coach’s shout. For a second he thought the fat man had fallen again except it was his heels being knocked out from under his own feet. An infected flew off the edge, having missed a full body blow with Nick who was falling backward and into the air.

He waved his arms, trying to regain balance but he just kept tipping. His heart froze in his chest and he finally realized why people usually died of a heart attack before they ever even hit the ground…

To his surprise, two meaty hands gripped his shirt collar and kept him from going over any further. The lamp Coach had been carrying broke against the pavement below, the sound small and far away. Nick barely heard it, too focused on Coach’s eyes. They were unreadable and Nick feared them. He could hear Rochelle say something but the words didn’t compute.

Then he was being moved, manhandled back against the wall. Nick didn’t even realize he had dropped his gun on the ledge and that he was holding onto Coach’s hands with both of his own, his ruined nails digging into the dark skin weakly. He let go, eyes wide and his body trembled as he took a deep shuddering breath.

Coach bent down and picked up the gun, handing it to Nick. Their eyes were still locked and Nick felt trapped. Once he was able to blink the shock away he huffed and shifted away, shoulders scrunched up as he tried to shuffle down the ledge, being more eyeful of the windows this time. Coach didn’t say anything and he didn’t ask for a thanks.

Ignoring his troublesome conscious, he continued ahead, breaking the last window open and stepping into the room, glad to be inside the burning building again. “Well that was fun,” he snorted, trying to get control of his wavering voice again. Nobody said anything but they all looked at him with matching expressions. Rolling his eyes, he tested the doorknob with his jacket again. It wasn’t hot so it was safe to assume the fire didn’t get too far. Just as he started to turn the knob, a heavy hand fell on his shoulder. Nick whipped around, the hand with his gun pressing against a round belly.

Coach’s face became pinched and he looked down at the metal before looking back up at Nick, anger seething in his eyes. “Can I please have that piece of wood in your jacket?”

Nick blinked. “What?”

Coach nodded down to the bulge in Nick’s coat. Nick stared at it, dumbstruck for a moment, before shaking his head at his own stupidity and handing the weapon over. Coach took it, happy to have something in his hands again since he dropped the lamp over the edge when saving Nick. That was the second time this stupid building made his lose a weapon.

“Thanks,” Coach gruffed before reaching around Nick to open the door and step out into the hallway once again.

Nick frowned deeply, his own words echoing in his head. ‘Don’t thank me yet.’ He knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep properly for a good while if he survived this. He watched Rochelle and Ellis walk past him and into the hall, their own weapons at the ready.

Nick followed and stepped out as well. He could see the hallway’s end and that it opened out into a bigger room. “Shit.” The room was teaming with infected and Nick sighed, his bones aching. When was this going to end?

The infected noticed their presence and they all made a break for the small team, screaming and yelling. The dozen sickly people swarmed them and somehow, Nick ended up in the big main room, shooting of rounds only when the others weren’t around to bash the infected’s heads in. One infected snuck up on him while he was busy pistol whipping a scraggly man with thin, brittle bones. The infected slammed him down onto a white sofa chair and Nick snarled, his face being pushed into the plush material.

The pressure was lifted by Coach who yanked the man up by his long, greasy hair and smacked him viciously across the head with the red stained piece of wood. It took three hits to do the job and once the man hung limp, only held up by his hair, Coach let go. His face face full of disgust and disbelief. He looked down to Nick instead, placing the wood in his other hand as he reached with the now free one, offering to help Nick up. Nick just stared at it, before fury broke loose in his chest and he knocked the hand away.

“What the hell is your problem,” Coach demanded.

“What’s my problem,” Nick snorted, standing up quickly. “Why the fuck do you keep acting so buddy-buddy with me!”

Nick wasn’t as tall as Coach but both of them had their chests puffed and both were glaring daggers at one another. Coach just looked him dead in the eye and with an air of finality, spoke. “Because I’m not the kind of person to just leave another man to die.”

Nick had nothing to say to that, so he didn’t. He just stared. Neither of them were backing down and Rochelle, as soon as she was done cracking open the last head, ran over to get between them.

“Guys, guys, come on. Really,” she budged herself between them and shoved them even further apart with her arms. Coach couldn’t be moved, but Nick stepped back. He didn’t want to waste anymore time in this stupid staring contest. “Okay…” she sighed, relieved. “Okay. So what do we do now?”

“What?” Nick asked, looking down at her.

“Both of the halls are on fire. We’re just stuck in this room…”

Alarmed, Nick looked around. Sure enough the hall they had just come out of was completely engulfed now and the only other hall in this section of the building section was burning just as bright. “Fuck.” Nick snarled, kicking the chair he had been forced into earlier. “Fuck!”

Ellis, who was across the room stared at the elevator. The little silver buttons gleamed at him, untouched and inviting. Swallowing loudly, he pushed the small circle. And to his shock, the button glowed blue. Ellis could cry. It was the most beautiful color he had ever seen. Behind him, Nick was shouting and throwing a fit about how unfair the world was. Ellis couldn’t bring himself to care. He just stared at the elevator, waiting for those gleaming doors to open.

A small, light hand rested on his back. He didn’t care if it hurt, he just stared at the elevator. “It’ll be okay sweetie...we’ll...we’ll find a way out.” Ellis could tell by her voice that it was a lie. She believed there were gonna die here. Ellis wanted to tell her, wanted to comfort her and let her know that they were getting out. But his mouth wouldn’t open and his body wouldn’t move.

Then, with a soft ‘ding’ the doors opened and the light from inside the elevator lit up the whole room. The yelling behind him grew silent and Rochelle sobbed, her fingers digging into his shirt.

“Oh thank God…”

Without any hesitation, Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach all piled into the small metal box. They all stared out at Nick who was frozen to the spot. His gray eyes looked slightly terrified and haunted looking at the glowing lift. His gun was reflecting the light from the only source in the room, shaking at Nick’s thigh.

“‘Ey, Nick. Come on,” Ellis shouted, waving him forward. Nick didn’t move but he did seem to snap out of his stupor.

“Is that thing even safe?”

“It’s our only chance, Nick.” Rochelle began to step out of the elevator but she couldn’t get her feet to physically step over that line. The thick doors began to slide shit and she pushed them back open. “Just get in.”

Nick closed his eyes and stepped forward. He looked a lot more like a man heading to the gallows instead of salvation. He stopped right in front of the doors, a new thought occurring to him. “What if...what if the whole first floor is on fire and when those doors open…”

A thick, black hand reached out from the elevator and tugged him into the harsh light. “Don’t think about it. Now push the button.”

Nick let out a strangled gasp, jerking like he’d been hit as those sliver doors closed softly. “Fuck,” he whispered, voice strained. With a trembling hand, he reached out and pushed the button for the first floor. “Oh God…” He squeezed his eyes shut and stumbled back until he was resting against the handrail. He gripped it so tightly that his nails began to bleed again.

Coach noticed the blood dripping and remembered seeing the man grip a broken window ledge in his time of need. Hot, sick anger filled his gut and he forced himself to look away, fighting to keep the memories of his almost death out of his mind. He made himself stare at those metal doors instead, waiting with baited breath for them to open.

“Okay, so when we get down to the first floor-” Rochelle was interrupted by a loud groaning from the elevator. It was shaking slightly from side to side and Nick began to swear and curse loudly, holding onto the railing with both hands now, his knuckles white. The elevator’s shaking stopped but Nick’s didn’t. His breathing was heavy and and uneven.

“You scared of elevators, Nick?” Ellis joked lightly. Nick didn’t answer but he shot the kid a smoldering glare. Giving the man mercy, Ellis turned back to Rochelle who looked a little startled herself.

“I didn’t like that,” she laughed weakly. Coach grunted in agreement. He was standing in the middle of the elevator, unlike the rest of them who were gripping the hand railings. He still had his eyes on the silver doors. His gaze was focused and harsh. He truly looked like a man going to war.

“Anyway,” Rochelle continued. “We’ll try out the first floor. If it’s all on fire, we’ll go up to the second floor and try again. If push comes to shove, we can jump out a window, I guess.” Her shrug was casual but the look in her eyes wasn’t. Ellis could tell that she wanted out of this building. He was sure, one way or another, Rochelle was getting out. It may end up killing her, but she would get out.

Ellis swallowed thickly, focusing on the doors ahead of them. He could see why Coach was so serious. They really were at war. Ellis took a deep breath and swore to himself that he was going to do his best to get everyone out of this hotel alive.

The elevator began to shake and quiver once more. Nick groaned, closing his eyes tightly. “Ugh, not again!”

The elevator stopped shaking faster than the last time. Ellis let out a relieved sigh. “See ya’ll, we’re fine. It’s just bein’ a lil-”

Without any warning, they were plunged into darkness and it felt like the floor fell out from under their feet. The elevator shot down, all four of their screams filling the small enclosure. Ellis heard something heavy hit the floor and he called out for Coach. In the darkness he felt a large hand fall on his shoulder and a voice yelled out at him. It was barely heard over the screeching of metal grinding and the alarmed shouts from Nick and Rochelle.

“Just stand still! Don’t move!”

Ellis tried his best to do as he was told, but it was hard when the whole elevator felt like it was taking them to the depths of hell. And then, just as suddenly as it had fallen, the elevator came to a crashing halt. Ellis and Coach remained standing, much to Ellis’s amazement.

“Christ…” Rochelle whispered, pulling herself up by the safety bar. “Shit, is everyone okay?” It was pitch black in the elevator and Rochelle had to feel around to find Ellis who called out to her. She stumbled on something and fell.

Nick let out a startled sound that was too hoarse to be a scream.

Rochelle could hear rustling and felt as Nick kicked out. “Get away from me!”

“Ow!” She gasped, before crawling away. Nick was striking out in random directions. “Calm down!”

“Get me out!” Nick shouted. “I want- I want out! Get me out!” His rushed breathing echoed in the small metal box they were trapped in. Let me out!” Rochelle could feel Nick rush forward, his fists pounding on the doors. “Jesus fuck, let me out!”

Ellis tried to rush forward and grab Nick but Coach’s hand stopped him. “Don’t touch him, he’s having a panic attack, just- just wait a second.”

Nick didn’t have a second to spare though. He began to pry the elevator doors open with his own hands. The metal scrapped and groaned and smoke began to fill up the only air they had very quickly.

“Nick!” Rochelle shouted, trying to pull him back. Nick, who was visible now thanks to the fire just outside the elevator, just shoved her away and continued to tug the door open. The red flames were everywhere and the smoke was making all of their throats burn. “Nick stop!”

“Out,” he choked, pulling the doors open as far as they would go. Which wasn’t much considering that the floor of the elevator and the ceiling of the first floor were only about two feet apart from each other. Nick reached out, clawing his way through the small opening. He toppled out of their vision face first and out onto the floor below. His body hit with a heavy thud and Rochelle gasped sticking her head out of the elevator. Ellis wasted no time on getting onto his belly and slinking out feet first, being careful not to land on Nick.

There was so much smoke it was hard to see where the man was even with his white suit on. “Nick!” He called out. Ellis knelt beside him and tried to put a reassuring hand on his back. Nick shouted something Ellis couldn’t understand and shoved him back. His face was so pale and ashen, Ellis would have thought he was an infected too if he didn’t know better. The man’s gray eyes had a wet sheen and were spilling over. Ellis wasn’t sure if it was the smoke since his own eyes were watering painfully, so he didn’t say anything. Besides he was sure Nick would be pissed if he brought it up.

“Hey man, you okay? You ain’t hurt none?”

“Get,” Nick gasped, choking on smoke again. “Get away, I can’t- I need-” He brought his red hands to the collar of his shirt tugging it up so he could breathe through it. “I’m fine. Just...let’s get out of here.” Nick stood on trembling legs, using the wall to prop himself up.

Ellis watched, unsure what to do. So instead of saying something stupid, Ellis just nodded. “Sure, man.” He looked over to Rochelle whose head was still poking out of the elevator. She looked worried so Ellis shot her a reassuring smile. “It’s all good, Ms. Rochelle. Here,” he offered his arms out and she tugged herself back in before turning around and shimming out backwards just like he did, letting Ellis place her gently on the floor. Coach was next and it took a second since it was harder for him to shimmy through the small space between the doors unlike the others. He landed on the floor with a grunt. His gaze focused on Nick with a weary glaze.

“You good?”

“Peachy,” Nick spat, his pale face turning red from humiliation. He turned his back to Coach and pointed to a little diagram on the wall. Nick wiped the ash off of it with the side of his palm. “We’re on the first floor, so that’s good,” he informed them. “I don’t know the best way to get out of here though. And looking at that mess, we only got one direction.”

“Then let's go,” Rochelle began to walk fast tugging her stained shirt up like Nick had. The others followed, running on the only clear path through the fire. The hotel was a maze. Nick could barely see where they were going but he sent a prayer to a god her never believed in that they were going the right way.

They reached a large open room that was filled with flames. Something moved to Ellis’s right and he turned around quickly. He sidestepped out of the way and an infected in a yellow hazmat suit ran past him. “Christ, man!” Ellis coughed. “That one’s fireproof!” He shook his head and swung down his crowbar, the hooked end piecing its head. The sick man fell to it’s knees with a dull thud. Ellis yanked his weapon out of its cranium and the suit let out a weird hissing sound that reminded Nick of a deflating balloon. He snorted and continued on. They eventually wound up in a kitchen and they had to jump over a stainless steel table and walk around it to go out an empty door.

Nick felt like he was suffocating in his heavy suit. The heat was too much and the lack of air was unbearable. He was thankful for the lack of infected, but when he looked around he could see that they had all died from horrendous burns. They pushed through and eventually, to a sobbing Rochelle’s relief, reached a door that led to outside. It set off an alarm and Coach shouted for them to keep going.

They ran for about a block, dodging the sight of countless infected who were all running toward the loud crackling fire that reached toward the star stained skies. “There!” Coach shouted, pointing at a building nearby. Its door was propped open by a dead infected. They ran toward it and slipped inside, slamming the door shut as soon as Ellis kicked the corpse aside.

“Jesus fuck,” Nick heaved, clutching his chest again. “That was...we actually…” He slumped to the floor.

“Don’t be so relieved yet,” Coach warned. “We don’t know if we’re alone in here.”

Rochelle, who’s soot covered cheeks had tear trails running down them, jerked to attention and they all looked at the back of the store with baited breath, waiting for something to leap out of the dark.

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