Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2 One-Shots

Smoker ~ Loneliness

It had been a whole week of you surviving on your own, a whole week! You were split from your group and unable to find them, so now you had to navigate the apocalypse on your own. Yeah, a whole week doesn't sound that bad, but if you had been with a group since the beginning and got used to having people with you....

You sighed loudly and sat down in a lawn chair some poor person probably left when they got zombified. You hated being on your own, at least with a group you had people to keep your mind off how bad the world had gotten. Who's to say you weren't alone, the sole survivor of the zombie apocalypse? Maybe everyone else was dead, you'd just never know because there was always the possibility there was someone alive somewhere else.

Pulling yourself from your thoughts, you had to remind yourself there was noone around to warn you of danger if you decided to go deep into your thoughts and not pay attention. Your eyes scanned the surrounding area, unaware of the eyes on you, before getting to your feet. You might as well keep moving. You never felt safe if you were in one place for too long, especially now that you were alone.

A Smoker sat in the bushes, watching you make your way through a small puddle of water and over to a garbage to inspect what was inside. He was too timid to make his way over and greet you, so instead he just decided to watch you. He'd been watching you since you got split from your group, through all your silent suffering and late nights staying up feeling unsafe.

You never let on how much it felt like your teammates died. Maybe they did, maybe they were dying right now, you'd never know. But being ripped from them like you had been, it caused you a small amount of trauma. You would never feel safe when you went to sleep, never have the comfort of another's arms wrapped around you protectively, and you certainly weren't going to wake to their hearty chatter.

You sniffled at the thought, but just as you did, you heard a wheezy cough. You stood up straight immediately and held up your gun as you swept the premises. Seeing nothing at first, you thought it was a figment of your imagination, but the snapping of a branch made you second guess that thought.

"Come out here and fight me!" You shouted, not wanting to have to watch your back constantly for the little bugger. That was the worst feeling in the world, knowing you were being watched but you couldn't see where you were being watched from.

The Smoker stood in the bush a moment longer before he stepped out gingerly. He wasn't even able to blink before your gun was pointed right at him, your eyes hard and set as they looked down the barrel. He put his hands up in surrender and your head tilted to the side on its own.

"Um, what are you doing?" You asked, lowering the gun a centimeter.

He moved his hands like 'Um, what do you think, stupid?'.

"Yeah, last I checked you smoker's don't surrender."

He shrugged like 'Maybe this one does'.

"Yeah, you're weird," you dropped the gun so it was pointed at his feet and he relaxed. "I guess I shouldn't expect anything less, you're a special infected in a zombie apocalypse after all," you snorted and slung your gun over your shoulder.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, startling you into backing up a step. His voice was gravely, like it had never been used before, and he even seemed surprised the words were able to come out.

"What's your name, man?" You got no response. "Speaking's a one time thing only? Fine, play that game." You slung the weapon back into your hands so it was ready to fire and he put his hands back up automatically. "I ain't gonna shoot you," you rolled your eyes. Honestly, why hadn't you just shot this smoker already? "You can tag with me if you'd like," you offered, trudging ahead.

As you nearly smacked your gun to your head in something similar to a face-palm at yourself, he happily trailed after you. What in the world did you just do? Sure, you knew your gut was telling you he was harmless, he'd probably do the splits to avoid stepping on a fly, but since when did you just rely on what you gut was telling you? If your gut was wrong you'd be dead.

Stopping at what you guessed used to be a deli mart (the sign with the store's name on it was peeled and unlegible now), you found some food to eat and settled down.

Smoker stood there, playing with his hands as his tongue swung out of his mouth. You'd seen a smoker attack you twice, after its tongue had gotten chopped off no less, and you wondered if that had something to do with the mutation. You wondered if Smoker could have other limbs chopped off and regrow them.

With a jolt, you realized something inside you was missing. Not physically, but something that had burdened you for so long was gone. Your loneliness. Perhaps there was an upside to having a special infected around.

Ever since your group got split, the feeling of loneliness had constantly been there. It was your most prominent emotion besides dread and fear, and you were shocked it took this long to find it was gone. You almost felt a smile at how relieved you felt.

"I'm gonna hit the hay Smokey, night," you got comfy where you were and closed your eyes. No you weren't really going to sleep, you just wanted to see what he'd do. Peeking open one eye just enough to see him, you watched as he looked around to find somewhere to settle down. The floor seemed suitable enough for him and he got comfy there, letting out one gnarly cough before trying to get some shut-eye.

Your eyes nearly widened. You were impressed he didn't try to attack you as soon as your eyes fell closed. Maybe he was something else.

You snorted, rolled your eyes at yourself, and got ready for a long night. You weren't going to sleep with that thing so close to you. Who knew what he would do when he knew for sure you were asleep. There was no way you were going to drift off into dreamland and find out.

It had been a quite a while since you joined up with the Smoker, and you found yourself trusting him more every day. He just followed you around, listening to what you said and doing whatever you told him to. It was almost like he was a dog with how easily he listened.

And despite you not understanding how, you grew a crush on him. You nicknamed him Smokey just because you liked how cute it sounded, and he didn't mind it one bit. He actually rather liked it, as it meant you were liking him. Nothing made him happier than that thought.

"Smokes, look up," you said, throwing the comment over your shoulder to him. He followed your instruction and saw a fellow smoker standing on a rooftop overlooking the small town you two were in. Preparing his lasso tongue, he aimed for the smoker and snagged it off the roof. It fell like a rag doll and you ran up as soon as it hit the ground, checking to make sure it was dead.

"Thanks Smokey," you smiled brightly at him and he nearly sighed. You were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, in his times as an infected and as a human. You made to walk away, continuing your search for supplies, and he followed after you like a loyal hound.

Maybe he should tell you how he felt. No, that was a terrible idea, what human girl would ever like a smoker? Hunters were always the ones they went for, never a tongue tied, shy, gagging smoker. It was just his luck that he got changed into a smoker rather than a hunter.

"Is that really what you think?" You asked, startling him. Did he just say all of that out loud?! "First thing you say in a few days is that you think I wouldn't like you because you aren't a hunter," you shook your head in disappointment.

"I- um," he tried to think of something to say that didn't make him sound like an idiot.

"I like you, dingus," you faced him and walked backwards. Even though you were the one who couldn't see where you were walking, Smokey was the one whose footing stumbled. You slowly arched an eyebrow. "So? Your thoughts?" He realized he had been silent for too long and stuttered out a reply.

"I-I like you, t-too, (Y/N)," he blushed, though you couldn't tell. You gave him a quick kiss before running backwards towards a shop.

"Are we together now?" He sent you a thumbs up and you grinned. "Awesome sauce! I'm gonna grab some stuff, I'll be back later!" He made to follow you but you stopped him. "No, stay there." There was no way he was coming with you when you were going to get supplies for your monthly bloody week. Oh, and you needed to let out a really loud squeal. I mean, how would you react if your crush liked you back when you thought you had a -45% chance those feelings were reciprocated?