What is the storyline for Left 4 Dead?

Answer 1

You want the story to L4D? You got it.

Information taken from: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=759074

Story
Although the regular continuity was taken out during play testing, I still believe Left 4 Dead has a continuous story over the four campaigns. I believe the story takes place starting with No mercy and ending with blood harvest, where the military finally picks you up at echo base and takes you to the safe zone. So here is how I believe the story goes.

(Also, if the link opens the entire album click it again. It is a bug with Picasa to open the entire album instead of just the specific picture.)

http://picasaweb.google.com/halflife...87157284413474
http://i460.Photobucket.com/albums/q...tary_map01.jpg

No Mercy
The story begins in No Mercy. It has been two weeks since the very first infection, although what was infected first is unknown. The intro movie displays how the No Mercy campaign begins, with the survivors escaping to the apartment roof up the fire escape to avoid the tank. On the map in the pictures above, the city that Mercy Hospital is in is near the bottom area of the map under the two rivers marked with an X. You can see the area marked out with an x saying "overrun." CEDA, or the Civil Emergency Defense Agency, must have had a variety of extraction points for survivors during the outbreak, and the hospital is the first one the survivors encounter. The hospital extraction point is no longer safe for survivors, although the pilot of the News Chopper 5 helicopter is making rescue missions for anyone around the city. During one of the pilot's street runs he is infected. Evidence of this can be found in the pilot's dialogue, where he mentions he just had an "accident." Certain lines that were not used in the game specifically have the pilot telling the survivors he is infected and that he is "changing."

At the end of the no mercy campaign the Survivor's helicopter crashes, due to the pilot being infected. Zoey is the character who shoots the pilot, but no one there can land the helicopter. No Mercy then leads into Crash Course.

Crash Course
Coming in September.

Death Toll
Death Toll starts out with the survivors on a turnpike. An overturned tree blocks the route behind them, and a police car that has weapons in the trunk is there initial supply area. Their objective in Death Toll is to get to riverside, a town that the military was holding out in. This is shown by the fact that Riverside is an evacuation area for CEDA, and by the fact that the military has put up various barricades and walls in the city for some protection. One of Bill's lines explains how only one infected had to get into the town to start the outbreak that destroyed the city's population. Zoey also has a line where she reminisces about the main street in the town, meaning at least Zoey had been to the town before the initial infection. The church must have been a major safe area, as all the spotlights leads point to it and look like they direct people to the church. In the map I posted, you can read the caption "Riverside" at the area between the two rivers directly where the river in the north diverges. This is how I came to the conclusion that the survivors are moving north. The riverside area is also marked with an X, indicating it was also overrun.

At the end of riverside the survivors decide to take a fishing boat to get out of the city. The survivor's initial plan was not to get on the boats, but they decide to once they realize the destruction the city has faced. Once the survivors reach a small house next to the river they receive signals about a survivor couple trying to get secure transport to the military outpost up the river. As the map shows, the river does lead to the safe zone marked on the map.

Clues to what happens between Death Toll and Dead Air are almost non-existent. At the moment, only speculation can be made about why the survivors decided to land in Newburg, the city Dead Air takes place in, instead of going up the river to the safe zone.

Dead Air
Dead Air occurs in the "business districts of Newburg," according to the official Left 4 Dead site. This is the third X on the map of the overall area. In Dead Air, the survivors are fighting their way to the airport to get aboard the C-130 aircraft they see flying overhead. A major theme of Dead Air is the complete destruction of the city due to bombing. The airport has been bombed in the campaign, and many of the major passenger airplanes have crashed around the airport. The airport used to be another evacuation outpost for CEDA, but it is no longer used for that. I speculate that the military bombed the area to prevent the further spread of the infection.

http://picasaweb.google.com/halflife...94700893007826

Here, at the beginning of dead air, you can see from the greenhouse the boat that was used in death toll at the harbor. I am unsure if this is just because the model for the boat was recycled to be used in the harbor, or because it is the actual boat the survivors came from.

http://picasaweb.google.com/halflife...94695166310418

The idea that the survivors landed here is made apparent by the "Harbor View Hotel," which shows how the area the survivors landed in is specifically a harbor. I believe that something occurred after the events of Death Toll that forced the survivors to dock in Newburg and work towards the next evacuation area.

At the end of Dead Air the survivors make it to the airport to board a plane that is refueling. I believe the pilot landed the plane their specifically to refuel, but did not want to leave the plane because of all the zombies at the airport. When the pilot saw the survivors, he promises them transportation for their help in refueling the plane.

Once again there is no clues that explain what happened between the survivors in the plane at the end of Dead Air, and their start at the beginning of Blood Harvest. Regardless of what happened, the survivors could no longer make their way to the "safe zone" marked on the map so they must have settled for the final evacuation area at Echo base.

Blood Harvest
The Blood Harvest campaign takes place in Allegheny National Forest and the train tracks around that area. Allegheny is marked by the fourth red X in the map. The survivors eventually reach Echo Base by following the train tracks, advice given by various graffiti all over the walls. The farm has been converted to a military outpost, evidenced by the various signs explaining how it is one and the warning signs telling any survivors to follow military orders in the corn field or they will be shot.

The survivors are picked up by the military in an APC and should be escorted to the safe zone. Whether the survivors make it or not is entirely speculation. It is also speculation in assuming that the "safe zone" is still even a safe haven for the survivors, free from the infected.

The Last Stand
The Last Stand is the final piece of narrative shown for the characters in Left 4 Dead. Chet Faliszek has said that the survivors are not dead, and therefore the nature of the survivors dying at the lighthouse is merely a result of the survival game-mode, and not what actually happened.

There is some evidence that The Last Stand is in the narrative and that the survivors actually go there. In the link section of my post there is an interview in which Chet states how the characters traveled from "Philadelphia to the Great Lakes." Philadelphia has already been stated to be No Mercy, as evidenced in previous interviews, also in the link section, but the more interesting comment is the fact that he says the game goes to "The Great Lakes." Therefore, it can be assumed that the location in the Last Stand is actually bordering Lake Eerie, which geographically is further north and follows the path the survivors previously have been traveling.

Also, it can be assumed the survivors made it to the lighthouse area from the military safe-zone, so therefore the safe-zone might have been overrun or something happened that forced the survivors to flee to the lighthouse, possibly seeking refuge across Lake Eerie.

Overall, from this evidence, it can be assumed that the Last Stand is actually a part of the story and is important in the narrative. What actually happens at the lighthouse, however, is unknown.