The Last Survivor: Mutation

A Left 4 Dead Fanfiction

A.N. I'm bouncing between typing this and my other story The Scar, it's much more difficult than I ever imagined it would be trying to please everybody x).

I'm happy you were all willing to bare with me for the last couple of chapters because I felt like they definitely weren't my best and you all deserve nothing but the best. So I've decided that I'm not gonna upload a chapter unless it has over five thousand words in it from now on. And I'll actually try to EDIT them before I upload them so I can maybe fix any grammar errors or things of that nature beforehand. I know I'll probably miss some mistakes and I'll never be one hundred percent satisfied with any of my chapters but I'm gonna try to come close.

So, with that said I also hope you guys please don't judge me too hard if the story hasn't gone your way. I know several people were very angry due to the separation of the fan favorite from the main group during the time skip between the first story and this one. I received several hateful messages and people telling me they quit reading the story and I sucked dick because of it. Well first, I think that's a little strong to say that, and second for everyone who HAS NOT sent me hate regarding my plot line decision, I would like to thank you all for being respectful to me and not filling up my inbox with rage messages :)

Just wanted to say those couple of things and now I guess we can jump back into it.

Disclaimer: LOOK BEHIND YOU A THREE HEADED MONKEY! *Flees with the knowledge that I don't own left 4 dead*

Let's cruise on down to zombie tooowwnnn...

Pick and Pay Gas Station

The world still hadn't changed, in the two days Kyle was separated from it, it almost felt as if he expected something to be different about the outside. But no, everything was in the same decrepit state he had left it in when they found Mercy. Wordlessly he watched out the window while all of the empty post-apocalyptic buildings passed them by on their way, it had been quite a long time since Kyle had last been able to watch out the window during a ride in the car. It was one of the little things he found himself missing after the last three years, that being said; the view wasn't exactly as comforting as it use to be before the first infection.

Each of the four survivors remained mostly quiet during the twenty minute drive to their location, excluding Louis of course who's positive attitude just seemed like it had an endless supply of fuel. He kept saying things like 'glad to have you guys here,' and, 'we're gonna be bringing home some goods.' Along with a cavalcade of other encouraging statements trying to keep a conversation going.

Thankfully it wasn't needed that much after a relatively short drive through the empty streets. Louis pulled the Kia up to their rundown destination. The Pick and Pay was coated with more than enough rust to show the amount of time that it had been left unattended. Two gas pumps supporting a large roof above them each had their own helping of age, while the store itself had plenty of debris, dirt, and dust lying around and inside it. And although the door was ajar, from their current perspective Zayna could see that the inside of the establishment hadn't been completely ransacked. So there could still be some useful supplies in there, they just needed to find them.

"Alrighty guys, let's get going." Zayna gave everyone a quick glance before picking up her gun and opening her door.

Everyone followed, releasing the locks on each respective door and climbing out of the vehicle. Warm, humid late summer air breezed by as the team of four shut the car back up.

Kyle looked around, the sun was casting a stale yellow glow over their dilapidated surroundings. Rusted broken down cars, and garbage scattered around really helped in setting the mood for this run. He held his shotgun firmly in both hands while rounding the Kia to meet up with the others on the opposite side. Zayna got two empty five gallon gasoline tanks from the trunk. "Okay let's do this in teams." Louis said, "Kyle and I will look around inside and grab everything we can. You girls check those pumps, and these cars, see if we can get any gas outta them." Both girls nodded but Kyle blinked a few times at the notion of Louis's idea. He didn't think it was a bad one, it was just odd not being the one to say where everyone goes on this run. He was very use to being a leader, so stepping back and obeying another came on a little strange.

He said nothing about this though and just shrugged it off, "Just been head honcho for too long I guess." The group all raised their guns and started off in both directions, the men heading towards the inside of the store while the ladies moved to examine the pumps.

Before Louis or Kyle entered the pick and pay, the former of which knocked his Uzi onto the glass several times, paused, then repeated the action again. They each stood waiting for anything to emerge out of the store attracted to the noise. But after a few seconds went by and they were only answered with silence, both deemed it was safe to go in.

Louis kept a flashlight taped to the hand guard of his sub-machine gun, so he clicked it on despite it being bright outside. The back of the store was a little shady, so he just wanted to be safe while they explored.

Meanwhile Zayna went to work on pulling out the pumps and sucking on them to try and siphon any gas out. Daisy tapped on the screens a few times seeing if that would help kick start something, but they remained silent. "So this is what you guys do every day?" She asked, looking down at Zayna still working on the long tubes of the pump.

"Every other day is more accurate." She replied, "And hey, it's what you two are doing now too."

Daisy shrugged, "Guess it beats being a housewife."

Zayna looked up at that, "Wife? Damn, you and Kyle moved fast."

"No, I mean sitting on my ass in the apartment and not contributing in any way." The pair giggled, "Besides, I think wifey may be waaay, down the line in this relationship." She said with a hint of sarcasm.

After not getting a drop out of the gas pump, Zayna stood up. "Next one." She pointed to the pump across the way, while picking up the empty tanks. "What do you mean? I thought you and Kyle were doing ok?"

"We are, we are, just..." They walked to the second pump and Daisy stopped for a second considering her words, she then spoke in a more hushed tone, "We've been together about a year, like eleven months I think. But even though it's been a long time it's still a very tender thing between us." Zayna placed the tank back on the ground beneath the station and waited for Daisy to continue, "After Gabbi attacked him, it was devastating. It took him a long time to get over it but, I still feel guilty too. After everything I did, luring him into that trap...nearly getting him killed, and now even though he said he forgives me and we're together I just...I feel like It's..."

Neither girls had started trying to get any gas, Zayna just stared up at Daisy from her now kneeling position, "What?"

Daisy was eyes were focused solely on the ground, "I don't know. I guess I'm just nervous I could lose him. God knows he has a million reasons to not want to be with me."

"But he is." Zayna cut her off, "Just be happy, we all went through hell and back but somehow found each other again. Even thought we lost Gabbi, it's a miracle enough that we got this far." Daisy flinched at the mention of that name. Zayna nudged her from below, "So get your shit together girl, we could die any day, live life happily while we still can."

Still Daisy did not look at her while she spoke, her words probably should've cheered her up but they didn't. This discussion just darkened her mood so she said nothing while Zayna got back to work. Wordlessly though, she glanced back at the store where Kyle and Louis entered, "He can't ever know..."

Meanwhile, back inside the two men were sifting through the turned over debris. Somebody had clearly been in here before them, but who knows how long ago it was, and from the looks of things; they were in quite a rush. Ripping through sections on shelves and swiping as many goods as they could before moving on. This was good for the survivors however as whomever raided this place prior to their arrival had left many useful things behind in their wake.

Both of them went to town collecting things and stuffing them into each pack, Kyle felt like a kid in a candy store.

"So what do you think? About Mercy I mean." Louis asked in between looking through some compartments behind the register. "Is it everything you hoped it would be?"

Kyle climbed onto a knocked over vending machine which had it's door pried open, to peak around inside. "It's definitely nice, jury's still out though on a final verdict."

Louis looked at him puzzled, "Huh?"

"Don't take that the wrong way, I'm happy we found it. We'd been outside for way too long, I'm just still getting adjusted I guess, and I know Daisy wants to stay." He was arm deep in the machine feeling around the inner parts for anything.

"But you don't?" Louis rounded the corner of the front desk and approached the younger man. "You know, we have a better chance of staying alive if we stick together." He gestured between the both of them.

Not finding anything inside the vendor, Kyle sat up on his haunches, then tilted his shotgun up to the ceiling resting it on it's stock. "What makes you say that? We were left alone out there for over two years and we were doing fine."

He narrowed his eyes in disbelief, this boy definitely didn't know how to take a chance to settle down. "We've all been left for dead once, we all know what it's like to think you can't ever let your guard down." Kyle stepped off the knocked over machine and continued looking around while Louis carried on, "Hell when Mercy was first built, I slept with one eye open every damn night for weeks. And I don't think anyone in Mercy has it in them to wanna go through that again. So we do our best to keep it safe and keep it going, and we will." Kyle turned to look at him and saw the genuine expression in his eyes, "So, give it a real chance. You'd be surprised how many good things are left in this world."

When he said that the words resonated in the younger mans head for an extra second, eventually causing him to look outside over where the girls were. He looked at both of them but mainly at Daisy, a small smile creeping up on his face.

"Well that I agree with."

Louis glanced over in the direction he was looking and smiled as well, "So...While you're thinking about what I said." He passed by him, "Tell me about you three? Zayna gave us her share of the story, how you guys held up in a saferoom for months but then got separated. She said that there was three of you though?"

Kyle instantly recoiled, "Yeah...we lost someone." That was all he said about it.

And that was all Louis needed to know that it was not a topic to be touched on, "I'm sorry." He offered, and the two continued silently scraping up what remained of useful items from the store. But Louis was not someone who could bare long term awkward quiet, so he tried to remedy the situation, "What about you and Daisy? How long have you guys been together?" It was something to ask which he hoped would start a better conversation. "Did you know each other before or..?"

"No actually, we met about two weeks after the first infection." Kyle pushed several empty bottles down the length of the shelves, "I was being chased by a horde, and she threw a homemade pipe bomb to get them off me." Recalling the events almost brought a feeling of nostalgia, "The story after that is...well, long and complicated. But we've been a couple since the start of last Winter. One night it got particularly cold, so we decided to snuggle up under a blanket by the fire and, well...how do rainbows form?" He finished hinting at how the two revealed the feelings they had for each other.

A.N. THIS IS NOT THE FULL CHAPTER! THIS IS MERELY A PREVIEW OF ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE FULL THING WHICH WILL BE RELEASED LATER ON!

Sorry guys, I've been really distracted lately in life and haven't focused much on this story yet because I've been suffering lack of inspiration for it. I don't want to force myself to write it like I have been otherwise it'll come out as a big pile of crap.

So I'm posting what I have for now, to help tide you guys over if you've been hoping for an update soon. I will update this again, but I need to be inspired to write it otherwise it's a grind fest to get it done. Really I apologize for taking so long with getting this going again, I hope you all can be patient for me. I'll explain when the chapter's completely done what's been going on and hopefully you'll understand.

until then, please forgive me. and I'll see you all then!