The Survivors

The Survivors are the main protagonists and player characters from the Left 4 Dead game duology.
They are a group of four that is immune to the green flu that fights The Infected and tries to find rescue whenever possible. However, a comment of Bill's hints at the possibility of them becoming an "Infected" at any point. Moreover, the hypothesized that they are "carriers" of the Infection; as such, they pose danger to any uninfected humans encountered.
==Survivors==
* Left 4 Dead: Bill is a veteran in his sixties, Francis is a middle-aged biker outlaw, Louis is a young I.T. worker, and Zoey is a teenaged university student who likes horror films.
* Left 4 Dead 2: Coach is a 44-year-old coach at a high school, Nick is a pessimistic 35-year-old gambler and con artist, Rochelle is a 29-year-old low-level TV reporter, and Ellis is a 23-year-old talkative mechanic.
*Left 4 Dead: Survivors: Blake is an American bartender and army veteran, Sara is a tour guide, Yusuke is a Japanese college student visiting America on holiday, and Haruka is a Japanese schoolgirl visiting America on a school trip.
==Biography==
===Left 4 Dead===
Two weeks after an outbreak of the so-called Green Flu (a highly contagious virus whose symptoms include significantly increased aggression and the loss of many higher brain functions within its victim), four gun-wielding survivors walk in an alley in Pennsylvania. When the four survivors encounter a Witch, they are ambushed by the Infected, who sprint towards them to attack.
When Francis saves Bill from a Smoker, Zoey kills several Infected with a pipe bomb, before a helicopter flies by. Louis chases it in vain, and he is pounced by a Hunter, but Zoey saves Louis and they both kill it. After the dead Hunter falls on a car, it sounds the alarm, attracting many Infected and a Tank.
The survivors escape onto a rooftop, and they later go back down through the flats and to the subway. They then go through the sewers and to Mercy Hospital. They go to the hospital's rooftop and radio for help, before being rescued by a news chopper. However, on the flight, the pilot becomes an Infected and crashes the chopper, the Infected dies, but the four survivors escape.
The survivors make their way through the city, through a church, and to the sea, where they are rescued on a boat by a middle-aged couple. However, the couple abandon the survivors, so they are forced to press on, eventually coming to the airport. They fight through the airport and find rescue in a plane, whose pilot tasks them with fuelling it up.
Some time after escaping the airport, the four are seen in a misty forest, which they fight through and escape from. They find a cornfield and radio the military, who saves them in a truck.
===The Sacrifice===
The comic takes place after "Blood Harvest" (the final campaign of L4D), and before "The Sacrifice" (the downloadable campaign for L4D2). Interspersed within the story are flashbacks showing the events that each Survivor experienced a short time "after First Infection"; watching friends, loved ones, and strangers turn into zombie-like creatures before their eyes and each realizing they are immune to the Infection.
From the end of "Blood Harvest", the four Survivors - Zoey, Louis, Francis, and Bill - are rescued by the U.S. Army and taken to Millhaven, a well-fortified army base. Francis and Louis are immediately put into an isolation room, while Bill and Zoey are tested by a doctor. All four learn that they are Carriers, having the virus yet showing no symptoms.
Zoey herself is horrified to learn that her father (who told her to kill him before he turned) had the Carrier gene, making his death avoidable. They describe to Lt. Mora (the soldier who got their radio signal) how the Infection has mutated to create Special Infected with unique abilities. Though Lt. Mora agrees with the survivors' reports (having seen the Special Infected himself), his superior, Everly, is highly skeptical.
Everly refuses to take steps to consider evacuating the base, despite not receiving orders for the last nine days. Mora becomes concerned that the survivors may be on the side of the Infected, and privately discusses plans to evacuate the facility. Mora overthrows Everly and sounds the evac alarm, unintentionally drawing Infected that attack the base, including several Special Infected able to breach the base's defense.
As Mora's squad attempt to hold back the Infected, the four survivors - along with two befriended soldiers and a doctor (who is also immune) - attempt to travel to a nearby trainyard to a train south towards Florida. As they are escaping, Mora, injured from battle, attempts to stop the group, believing them responsible for the invasion. Bill knocks him down. As they discover a train, Everly attempts to escape in a helicopter, but a Tank sends it crashing to the ground.
Finding an available train, the group becomes concerned that it has become too quiet, and Zoey suggests that something lies in wait for them. They are soon attacked by a Tank and a horde of Infected. The two soldiers sacrifice themselves to protect the group as they start the train. While the four survivors are able to board in time, the doctor lags behind. To Zoey's dismay and anger, Bill refuses to slow down, stating "we come back for our own".
As they travel south, Bill explains that his plan is to get them to the islands of the Florida Keys; since the Infected cannot swim, they will be safe there. At a town at the end of the line, they start searching for a boat. While navigating the town, Zoey explains to Francis that she doesn't understand Bill. Francis says that "Bill doesn't always do the right thing, but he does it for the right reasons".
Shortly afterwards, they find a yacht, but Louis is severely injured when he finds it packed with Witches. After burning the yacht, the group finds a sailboat, filled with provisions and medicine; however, to get it downriver, they must raise a rusty old bridge blocking their path. They start nearby generators and prepare to fight the horde while waiting for the bridge to be raised, but the generators soon give out.
Without pause, Bill jumps off the bridge and makes his way to the generators, restarting them as three Tanks strike him and maul him to death. Francis attempts to go after Bill, but Zoey stops him, sadly commenting that Bill's sacrifice will have been for nothing. After waiting for the horde to disperse, the three quietly return to the boat and set course to the Keys.
===Left 4 Dead 2===
Some time later, in Savannah, four different survivors run to the top of a hotel to reach the rescue chopper of the roof, but they just miss it, so they go back down and fight their way through the burning building, before fighting through the streets to reach the mall. Once they get through the mall, they find a stock car and escape in it.
Some time later, the original survivors try to get atop a risen bridge, but its generator malfunctions, so Bill sacrifices himself to fix it, allowing Francis, Louis, and Zoey to stay on the risen bridge. That same night, the four survivors in the stock car come across the risen bridge, which they need lowering to drive across.
They make a deal with the other three and later manage to lower the bridge. The L4D2 survivors offer to take the L4D survivors with them, but they decline, so they part ways. After a perilous journey, the L4D2 survivors cross a bridge and get taken in by an army helicopter.
==Descriptions==
== Information ==
Name 	Age 	Race 	Occupation 	Voice Actor 	Face Model
Bill 	60s 	White 	Ex-Soldier 	 	Bernard Fouquet
Francis 	30s-40s	White 	Biker Outlaw 	Vince Valenzuela	
Louis 	20s-30s	Black 	I.T. Analyst 	 	Sean Bennett
Zoey 	Teens 	White 	Uni Student 	 	
Coach 	44 	Black 	Gym Coach 	 	Darnell Rice
Nick 	35 	White 	Gambler 	 	Taymour Ghazi
Rochelle	29 	Black 	Reporter 	 	
Ellis 	23 	White 	Mechanic 	 	Jesy McKinney
Blake 	20s-30s	White 	Bartender 	 	?
Sara 	20s-30s	Biracial	Tour Guide 	 	?
Yusuke 	Teens 	Asian 	Uni Student 	Ryuichi Kijima 	?
Haruka 	Teens 	Asian 	High Schooler	 	?
==Locations==
Level 	Location
No Mercy 	
Crash Course 	Whitney County
Death Toll 	
Dead Air 	Newburg,
Blood Harvest	
Dead Center 	
The Sacrifice	Rayford,
The Passing 	Rayford,
Dark Carnival	Griffin County
Swamp Fever 	Village En Marais
Hard Rain 	Ducatel,
The Parrish 	
==Trivia==
=== Left 4 Dead ===
*An early developmental visual of Francis shows him with long, unkempt hair. It can thus be inferred that Zoey's comment to Francis that she knows how to cut hair is a legacy attribute.
*In the beta, Zoey and Francis show affection for each other. This proved too distracting, so it was removed. This concept was later revived in the form of Ellis' feelings for Zoey in The Passing.
*In the beta, doors could be locked to stop incoming Common Infected for a short time. It was most likely scrapped due to the number of doors there were to get to the survivors, so they could get away if low on health or they didn't want the Infected to open doors.
=== Left 4 Dead 2 ===
*Two characters that didn't make it into the final version were a female DMV worker (amiable, not stereotypically surly) and a fireman (someone who would know how to expertly use the axes that players can now pick up for melee attacks).
*In the L4D2 port of L4D, Bill and Francis call the Spitter male when they kill her - using lines such as "He's dead!" or "Popped a cap in his ass!" - due to the L4D survivors canonically encountering only male Special Infected in L4D (besides the Witch).
===General===
* The Survivors survivors do not meet any of the other eight survivors.
* The survivors listed in order of age: Bill, Coach, Nick/Francis, Louis/Rochelle/Blake/Sara, Ellis, Yusuke/Zoey, and Haruka.
* As revealed through quotes, Louis and Ellis are gamers; Louis is a fan of , whilst Ellis is a fan of .
* In Survivors, Yusuke replaces Louis/Nick, Haruka replaces Zoey/Coach, Sara replaces Bill/Rochelle, and Blake replaces Francis/Ellis.
* The subtitles' colors are based on the survivors' attire; Bill's green outfit, Francis' grey outfit, Louis' white shirt, Zoey's pink-red jacket, Coach's purple shirt, Nick's white suit, Ellis' yellow shirt, and Rochelle's pink shirt.
* The noticable gameplay difference between the eight survivors, other than their hit boxes, is their weapon preferences as bots. Bill, Louis, Nick, and Rochelle prefer assault rifles. Zoey and Ellis prefer sniper rifles. Francis and Coach prefer shotguns.
* In the L4D2 ports of the L4D campaigns, before the Last Stand update, the L4D survivors had different preferences. While Bill still uses assault rifles, Zoey uses assault rifles as well, whilst Louis uses shotguns, and Francis uses snipers. This is likely an oversight, as the L4D survivors gained the weapon preference of the Left 4 Dead 2 character's slot they fill on the character selection screen. When the Last Stand update was released for Left 4 Dead 2, this had been fixed. The Xbox 360 version still has L4D survivors' weapon preference changed.
** For the secondary weapon preference in Left 4 Dead 2, Bots will usually prefer two Survivors using Magnums (Nick and Rochelle) and two Survivors using dual-wielding Pistols (Coach and Ellis). In the ported campaigns, before the Last Stand update, Bill and Zoey, being placeholders for Nick and Rochelle respectively, used Magnums while Francis and Louis, being placeholders for Ellis and Coach respectively, used dual-wielding Pistols. Since the Last Stand update for Left 4 Dead 2, Zoey prefers dual-wielding Pistols while Louis prefers Magnums. The Xbox 360 version still has Left 4 Dead Survivors' sidearm preference changed.
** The "Hit Box" is affected by the body size of Survivors. Taller, heavier Survivors (such as Coach) have a slightly larger "Hit Box" than shorter, slimmer Survivors (such as Rochelle). A larger Hit Box means a higher chance of receiving friendly fire, and easier aiming for Special Infected.
* After being incapacitated twice under normal conditions (thus being put in "about to die" state), a survivor will be given an endurance boost in order to give them a higher chance of survival. It's unclear if this gives an increase of resilience against damage or on an undetermined extra amount of health. Nevertheless, whether it is one or the other, this boost won't be represented on the character's health bar or physically on the character themself in any way; it will just be evident as they'll be able to withstand a few more hits before dying than in normal conditions.
* Also when in "about to die" state, a survivor bot will become remarkably more cautious and generally stay on the rearguard of the main group, whilst avoiding combat as much as possible. If they detect a Special Infected human player, they'll reverse-mimic their movements - though being slowed down due to their critical condition - as to keep their distance and increase chance of survival.
* During development, the L4D survivors' physical appearance changed in response to an evolving design brief that lead towards making them appear "realistic" in the sense that they credibly resemble people who could be encountered in everyday life. Visuals for L4D2 began with the same term of reference, but - as evidenced by the first screenshots and videos with the exception of Nick - each character's appearance underwent rolling changes and refinement.
* In L4D, it seems possible that each scenario is geared towards being the "home" of one of the survivors (excluding Rochelle and Nick, who don't seem to say anything about where various landmarks can be found).
** Bill comments on the trailer in Blood Harvest, asking Francis if it reminded him of home. Although this is just an insult to Francis, it could also mean that Francis lived in a trailer somewhere.
** Louis seems to know somewhat trivial pieces of information involving Riverside's sewer system. He also seems to know his way around Fairfield, even in the sewer; he knows when the survivors have arrived at the hospital. Like Bill, he may insult Francis by making a comment of an alleyway in Crash Course, asking him if it was where he was born, prompting Francis to ask if it's the one he'll die in.
** Zoey said that she always liked the main street in Riverside. Also, in some early L4D articles, she is referenced as being from a farm, indicating a possible relation to Blood Harvest. She also states that she has been to Newburg before.
** Francis is surprisingly knowledgeable about the area of Newburg near the airport, and seems to know his way around the airport itself.
** Both Bill and Louis appear to know their way around Fairfield, knowing that the subway's Red Line heads straight to Mercy Hospital, and that it's possible to reach the hospital by going through the waterworks (which leads into the sewer).
** Coach mentions living in Savannah and seems to know his way around well, and also becomes rather offended when Nick responds to talk of a gun store with "living here is finally paying off".
** Ellis is a native of Savannah, and will sometimes volunteer to "show you the sights on the way to the mall". He also knows where the gun shop is and how to get to the mall.
* Some of the L4D survivors' text lines were re-used (or a little less changed) on new survivors (only voiced by their voice actors). For example, Bill and Coach say the same phrase when healing an ally: "Stop squirmin'; I'm gonna heal you", while Francis and Rochelle say "I'm gonna give that Witch something to cry about."
* On the PC, it is possible to spawn the L4D survivors in any campaign in L4D2, but spawning them directly will crash the game because of a precaching error. To fix this, spawn the L4D survivors models yourself with the "prop_dynamic_create" console command (cheats are needed to do this, and only works if you start a listen server by opening a map by typing in the console "map MAPNAMEHERE"). After spawning the L4D survivors' models, you can spawn them now because they have had their models spawned. However, you will not be able to play as or control them with the "sb_takecontrol" Convar.
* Wooden 42 pound crates of U.S. military K rations appear in most Left 4 Dead safe houses. K rations are an obsolete class of combat ration that was first issued in World War II. They were intended for short-term consumption only since the calorie content was inadequate to maintain a soldier's physical condition during hard and prolonged exertion. It is assumed that the Survivors sustain themselves on K ration packs, yet it is noticeable that none of them appear to have lost weight as their clothes still fit perfectly. It is, therefore, logical to believe that the Survivors spend most of their time holed up in safe houses [thus conserving energy] and that Campaign episodes depict short and intense opportunistic breakouts. Even when freshly made, the monotonous nature of K rations is well-documented whilst the taste and condition of such items taken from long-term military storage can only be imagined, which may explain Zoey's enthusiasm for peanut butter in Part Three of The Sacrifice comic. In the opening scene of Left 4 Dead 2, however, there are several bags of what appears to be a Peanut M 'n' M's knockoff in a cardboard bin, and Coach can be seen eating some sort of chocolate bar. This implies that perhaps left-over candy is eaten because it takes a long time to go bad, and is probably easy to find in abandoned stores.
* In The Sacrifice comic, the military thinks that the L4D survivors are carriers, and have been unintentionally transmitting the Infection across Pennsylvania. Whether it's true or not, or that all immune survivors are carriers, is currently unknown.
** In Part One, Mora calls himself a Captain. However, in Part 2, he is referred to as a Lieutenant. Furthermore, when called on the radio in Blood Harvest, the soldier says "I don't believe it. Captain! We got Survivors out there!"
* As seen in The Sacrifice comic, sometime after the L4D2 survivors depart from the L4D survivors (minus Bill) in The Passing, the L4D survivors board their boat (which Zoey and/or Francis had evidently moved to the downriver side of the bridge just prior to the start of The Passing) and sail off to the Florida Keys. The last we see of them is in the bow of their boat looking out at an island in the sunrise. But for unknown reasons, the pages which would be for The Passing's parts are not there as the comic is missing the last 12 pages (Valve stated that the comic will have 190 pages or more) and no one has made any reports or sign of them.
** With the release of The Sacrifice, Bill has new lines regarding the new Special Infected in L4D2. However, all the original survivors lack lines when it comes to new items and weapons, such as the defibrillator, special ammo, adrenaline shot, etc. and will use the generic "Look here" response instead (for melee weapons and grenade launchers they re-use the lines for when spotting regular weapons).
*** They also lacked reactions to the Special Infected when attacked, using their pain sounds instead (as of the port of Death Toll they now re-use some lines, for Spitters they exclaim "get back", "move it" and critical pain sounds, for Jockeys they re-use Hunter-related lines and the Chargers for when getting pounded by the Tank). A possible explanation may be because the decision to port The Sacrifice and No Mercy to L4D2 was taken after the voice actors had finished recording their voices, since originally Valve intended to launch The Sacrifice DLC only for L4D.
* Since the L4D survivors weren't updated accordingly for the weapon animations of L4D2, their hands invariably clip through them on many occasions. This effect is most evident when Zoey reloads the Magnum Pistol and when Bill reloads the P220 Pistol.
** They also hold two-handed weapons (like shotguns and rifles) oddly. The gun is placed more to the right, showing the fingers on the underside of their palms.
** Grenade-type items and pain pills are also held off-center. The models make it look like the survivors are holding the items with their fingertips instead of in their hand completely.
** The L4D survivors do not even have their melee weapons shown on their backs when stowed, which means you can only tell if they have such weapons or not by checking if their holsters have a pistol (mods can be used to make up for this problem).
** Francis also has his fingers spread apart a few degrees - possibly an oversight.
* The developers intended to add L4D2 features to L4D as an expansion pack, but some of their ideas wouldn't have worked unless all of them were packaged together, so they decided to give themselves some creative freedom by making it a whole other game, though now you can play all of L4D in L4D2 as well.
==External Links==
* Comic
==Licensing==
This article contains content derived from the "Survivors" article on the L4D Wiki, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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