The Survivors

The Left 4 Dead series is, by its very name, about the uninfected survivors and their struggle to survive in a world overrun by people infected by the 'Green Flu (a term coined by CEDA in Left 4 Dead 2). There are four playable survivors in each game. However, the world is populated by other humanoids that make contact with them through their trials. Here is the complete list.

Playable Characters
"That's right, we should call ourselves, the Unstoppables!"

- Louis



Bill


Bill is a Vietnam veteran who served in the US Army 1st Special Forces Group. His combat skills help to keep him alive. He is also the oldest of the group and is picked on by Francis due to this, whom he maintains a strenuous relationship with. In official media, he is usually seen wielding the assault rifle, probably to complement his back-story. He always has a lit cigarette in his mouth, even upon death.

Bill is voiced by Jim French.

Francis


Francis is a large, tough biker with tattoos covering his arms and neck. His tattoos identify him as a member of "Hell's Legion", a name possibly inspired by the real-world Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Since his character model has changed, it has been speculated that Francis' new face was modeled after the head developer of the game, Mike Booth, and that he has the Lambda symbol from the Half-Life series cut into his hair. In the official media, he is usually seen wielding either the pump shotgun or the auto shotgun.

Francis is voiced by Vince Valenzuela.

Louis


Louis' original concept was an assistant manager at a local retail electronics chain store. His design was changed and he was made a Junior Systems Analyst in his company's IT department. His clothing resembles the typical business man, but bears a resemblance to Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, who wore a red tie and white shirt. In official media, he is usually seen wielding a submachine gun or dual pistols.

Louis is voiced by Earl Alexander.

Zoey


Zoey is the teenage daughter of a wealthy family. Being in her first year of college would make her at least 18. She wears a red jacket, blue jeans, converse shoes and her hair is up and a pony tail in all instances, except the poster to Crash Course and Dead Air. She is usually seen with the hunting rifle or dual pistols. Zoey's original design was based on Alesia Glidewell, who also worked with Valve on Portal as a model for the character Chell. However, when the character designs were updated later in development, Zoey was made to resemble actress Wikipedia:Sonja Kinski|Sonja Kinski]] instead.

Zoey is voiced by Jen Taylor.

Anonymous Survivors
Although most of the inhabitants of visited infected areas are met point blank with a weapon, there are a few tell-tale signs that there is non-infected individuals.


 * 1) Graffitiis abundant in every safe room in all ten campaigns.
 * 2) In most cities, you can hear the "pop pop pop" of assault rifles in the distance.
 * 3) Safe rooms themselves are self-evident proof that uninfected people set up sleeping areas for others to make use of.
 * 4) In the first map of Dead Air, towards the end, if you look up at the hotel you can see a single room with its light on. The stairs up to the rooms are barricaded, which may imply the presence of one or more Survivors in the hotel.

Distant Survivors


In the campaigns Dead Air, No Mercy, Crash Course, and sometimes at the end of The Town (as well as the main menu), occasionally, a distant gunshot, explosion, or gun burst may be heard. It can only be assumed that these are other Survivors fighting off the Infected. As they are infrequent, however, it is likely that few of them survive, or simply move out of hearing range. Not to say that none of them do, as, from The Sewer, looking very closely at the roof of Mercy Hospital in the distance, a white helicopter (different from the red, white, and blue chopper used by the Survivors) can be seen flying in and out, hinting at more than one evacuation. The helicopter pilot will also sometimes comment to the Survivors, "Looks like you're gonna be my final run.", further indicating that he had been saving other Survivors from the rooftop. As this may be true, in Crash Course, Francis and Zoey fight constantly over the dead pilot. He can be heard saying he had an "incident" and it maybe he is trying to help you get away as far as he can before transforming into an infected. He seems aware that he is going to die. He was going to be in the game, or at least the sound files were, but what he said during infection left players with a bitter taste after their victory, so his audio files were never introduced into the game when it was first released. The audio clips do activate with the Crash Course DLC installed, however.

It should also be noted that the pilot seems to be in Left 4 Dead 2 (or at least his model), taking the Survivors from the finale of Dark Carnival and eventually crashing, as in Crash Course.

Church Lunatic
"Better safe than sorry..."

- Church Lunatic

The “Church Guy” or "Church Lunatic" is a mentally unstable man who can be found in chapter three of the Death Toll campaign, The Church. He appears to be afraid of Infection, barricading himself in the safe room that the Survivors must get through. It is later revealed that he was bitten by a survivor who claimed to be immune, yet became infected. Church Guy deemed himself immune to the virus as he survived an hour without transformation. As a result he suffers from extreme paranoia to the point of insanity.

He repeatedly says "better safe than sorry" and causes a Crescendo Event when the survivors request to use the safe house he is occupying by ringing the church bell to attract a horde. This is, by his logic, a way to prove that the player is indeed immune and human. When the event is concluded, the safe-house door can be opened and a Special Infected will emerge, providing a conclusion to his change. You may hear him start to growl, cough, or gurgle (representing the hunter, smoker, and boomer respectively) before you open the door. After opening the door and ascending to the second floor of the safe room, the Survivors can see that the Church guy has written his motto all over a wall, over 180 times.

The Survivor who infected him is male, judging by the usage of the pronoun "he". However, you can see a corpse of a female slumped against the wall in the safe room when you walk in. It is a static corpse placed there by the map makers to set the mood. This is a slip-up of the creators.

Despite ongoing rumors and popular belief of a slim chance of occurring, he will never turn into a Witch or a Tank after the Crescendo Event. If players were to examine the left4dead/scripts/population.txt file, it appears that there is a 50% chance of a Boomer appearing, and 25% each of either a Smoker or a Hunter appearing. No mention of the Tank or the Witch are included in this file, making it clear that there is no chance of the Church Guy becoming a Tank or Witch unless there is a serverside mod in use. Alteration of the population.txt file to force the Church Guy to transform into a Tank or Witch can create very strange results, thus verifying the fact that the Church Guy will never spawn as a Tank or Witch.

His voice actor, Nathan Vetterlein, also voiced the Scout from Valve's Team Fortress 2.

Evacuation Personnel
During the finale of each scenario, a Survivor in a vehicle must arrive to rescue the four main characters from their evacuation point. These Survivors are never seen, as they are usually concealed behind the windscreens of their vehicles, excluding the helicopter pilot from the No Mercy campaign. These Survivors include the aforementioned helicopter pilot from No Mercy, the boat drivers (John and Amanda Slater) from Death Toll, the C-130 pilot from Dead Air, and the APC driver from Blood Harvest. In all cases you communicate with them via radio. It also indicates more Survivors in Blood Harvest when contacting the driver of the APC. After you answer the radio, one of the radio communicators yells back to another one. One of the two is presumably the driver.

Each rescuer has separate motives for rescuing the Survivors:
 * The helicopter pilot in No Mercy appears to be affiliated with either the military or CEDA, regularly evacuating civilians to an unknown safe zone, however, since he flies the News Chopper 5, it can also be assumed he was simply a former news pilot evacuating civilians out of good will, if this is the case he was part of a fairly large news network considering there are posters for the helicopter in The Subway. His voice actor is Dennis Bateman, who also voiced the Spy and Pyro in Team Fortress 2.
 * John and Amanda Slater (the boat pilots) are civilians hoping to gain additional firepower as they escape from Riverside. John's voice actor is John Patrick Lowrie, who voiced the Sniper in Team Fortress 2.
 * The C-130 pilot appears to be stranded at the airport due to a lack of fuel, refusing to leave his plane and expose himself to the Infected. His voice actor is Gary Schwartz, who voiced the Heavy and Demoman in Team Fortress 2.
 * The APC driver in Blood Harvest is a member of the US Military who was ordered to evacuate the Survivors to an unknown, presumably northern safe zone. His voice actor is David Scully, who voiced Sergeant Johnson in the Halo series.
 * The helicopter pilot in Dark Carnival is never directly contacted, but is presumably looking for Survivors for the same reason the helicopter pilot in No Mercy was. They also share the same character model.
 * Virgil is a boat owner who presumably picks up the Survivors out of a combination of kindness, potential loneliness, and to utilize them to get fuel from the mainland.
 * The military helicopter pilot in The Parish has been tasked with orders to pull out of the mainland, with the Survivors being informed if they can make it to his location before he takes off, he'll transport them.

Below are the captions of quotes stored within the game files, but not actually heard or used within the game.

John Slater

 * "Hello? See Amanda, I told you someone was still out there!"
 * "Yeah! Yeah... ok.. Amanda. They're doing fine. yes. boy. go..."
 * "They're not doing that well. Listen, if I had guns I could do the same thing."
 * "Great. Okay, okay, sweetie. Yeah. It's... Okay."
 * "On our way. But let's be clear: once you get on this boat? Your job is keeping our asses alive."
 * " ...guessthatmakestoouvus..."
 * "You were against buying the boat too, Amanda."
 * "Your problem, Amanda, is that you don't think about the little guy!"
 * "We're not coming in with that Tank there. Take care of it or you're on your own."
 * "Almost there! Get ready. We don't want to sightsee when we get there."
 * "Amanda, goddammit, this needs to get done."
 * "Amanda, if the world is ending - well, then it's ending. Can't hurt to spend our last hours trying to do some good, eh?"
 * "So what, then? We leave 'em to die? I can't do that, Amanda."
 * "You know, I could come to my senses and start listenin' to my smart beautiful wife here."
 * "You know, we can hear you right now. You need to press the button again to get off the frequency."
 * "You know, my wife's been making some very good points here. You want me to put her in charge?"
 * "Yeah, go ahead and weigh your hundreds of options."

Plane Pilot

 * "Someone gonna help that oldtimer?"
 * "Man, that thing looks like my ex-wife! [chuckles] Don't forget to tip yer waitress, I'll be here all week."
 * "Ain't nobody gonna help that pretty young thing?"
 * "Nobody gonna help that little girl?"
 * "Hey, guys, I think suit and tie's down."
 * "Holy shit, lookit the size of that thing!"
 * "Man, I almost wish I was down there! That looks like fun!"
 * "Look out, folks. That sneaky zombie's around somewhere."
 * "Uh oh. You see where that sneaky guy went?"
 * "Hey, that big greasy fella's down!"
 * "Hey, vest! Behind you!"
 * "Man! No offense, but I can't believe you guys're still alive right now!"
 * "I'd be out there with you if I didn't have all this pilot stuff to take care of!"
 * "That thing's jumpin' around like spit on a hot skillet!"
 * "Man, that thing's got a big tongue!"
 * "Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a coward for not helpin' ya. Guess I'll just sit up here in my cockpit, flyin' you out of this hellhole, like I flown everyone else who came here lookin' for help. But no, thank you for bein' honest!"
 * "You callin' me a coward? Get this straight! I can fly planes! You can run around gettin' killed! In a post-apocalyptic world, that makes me valuable and y'all worthless!"
 * "You sayin' I'm yellow? I been riskin' my life flying people outta this airport all goddamn day! Then the government dropped a bomb on me! So excuse me if I don't skip down there and pick a rifle!"
 * "Jesus Crow, look at the size of that one!"
 * "Uh oh. Well, nothing wrong with a lighter load."
 * "Shit. Well, there's more room for the rest of us, I guess."
 * "Man. I bet that fellah works out."
 * "Looks like we just got an opening for first class."
 * "Hoo. Well, I guess the rest of us can stretch out in the plane now."
 * "Ohhhhhhh, shit. That is unfortunate."
 * "Huh! I thought your bacon was cooked for sure!"
 * "Uh oh! Fuel tank's leaking! Nah, just kidding!"
 * "Hooo! Bet you don't want to do that again!"
 * "Did you guys shoot that plane down?

Soldier

 * "Sit back and enjoy the show. We can take it from here."
 * "Glad you made it. Why don't you sit back... and enjoy the show."
 * "We're gonna send these things back to hell."
 * "BOOOOOM!"
 * "Ah ha ha ha! Yeah, baby!"
 * "Blow it up!"
 * "If you'll look slightly to your left... boom!"
 * "And to your right, boys... bam!"
 * "BOOM!"
 * "Now that's what I call a show!"
 * "Get on so we can get our asses out of here."
 * "The zombies are no more, BOOOOM!"
 * "Man, you guys are lucky to get here."

Left 4 Dead 2 Characters
"We're the four riders of the god damn apocalypse!"

- Nick



Coach


Coach has a big heart, a healthy appetite, and a wicked swing with a chainsaw. After a knee injury ended his career as a defensive lineman in college, Coach salvaged his Physical Education degree (barely) and landed a job teaching health at the local high school in his hometown of Savannah.

Working as a defensive coordinator for the freshmen team might not have been the best path to a pro coaching career; but it’s come in pretty handy in guiding a group of Survivors to safety. Coach has watched his beloved hometown get ravaged by infected—now it’s time to deliver his own brand of Southern hospitality.

Coach is voiced by Chad L. Coleman.

Ellis


Ellis is a mechanic with a love of life, a firm belief in his own immortality, and the ability to treat any setback as a fun dare to impress his friends. Born and raised in Savannah, Ellis divvies up his time working at the local garage, hanging out with his buddies, and dropping by for Sunday dinners with Mom—why’d anybody want to live anywhere else?

Then the zombies had to go and spoil it. Now Ellis is looking for new things to occupy his time, and finding plenty. It turns out the zombie apocalypse is one big dare, and there’s no shortage of crazy stuff he can try to impress his new buddies.

Ellis is voiced by Eric Ladin.

Nick


A lifetime of drifting from city to city, finding back-alley card games and trying to stay out of jail has taught Nick two valuable lessons: Don’t trust anyone, and look out for number one.

He’d come down to Savannah looking for some gullible fish on the riverboat gambling cruise circuit. Instead he found a city about to be engulfed by infection. Now he finds himself forced together with three complete strangers in a fragile alliance that goes against every instinct he lives by. But he’s going to have to learn to trust them if he wants to survive.

Nick is voiced by Hugh Dillon.

Rochelle


As a low-level associate producer for a big-name news station, Rochelle's job mostly consisted of lugging cables and fetching coffee. But when the outbreak hit and staff started calling in sick, Rochelle got her break: producing a segment from Savannah about the evacuation center located there. She was still setting up the cameras when her big story became a war zone. But that doesn't mean she's letting go of her dream job yet. Surviving a zombie apocalypse is just something else she can use her wits and drive to produce the hell out of.

Rochelle is voiced by Rochelle Aytes.

Whitaker
"Now I've barricaded myself on the roof with ample provisions... but in my haste, I forgot cola!"

- Whitaker



Whitaker is a 60-year old man who owns a gun shop located in front of Liberty Mall in the Dead Center campaign. This is similar to the way Andy in Dawn of the Dead was trapped in his gunshop, also across from a mall. By the time the Survivors arrive at his gun store, he has already barricaded himself upstairs with large amounts of ammunition and provisions. When the Survivors enter his store, Whitaker contacts them over an intercom, offering to clear a roadblock that is preventing the Survivors from reaching the mall with a grenade launcher if they go to the nearby Save 4 Less supermarket and fetch him a six-pack of cola. A Crescendo Event is triggered when the Survivors enter the supermarket, with the burglar alarm going off and summoning a horde. After retrieving the soda, Whitaker launches a grenade at the roadblock, destroying it and allowing the Survivors to continue to the mall. He is visible when launching the grenade if you use no-clip.

Note that the Fallen Survivor Uncommon Infected model (only spawnable via console) uses an infected version of his model.

Due to the Fallen Survivor Uncommon Common sharing the same model, and being cut, some fans have theorized that sometime during Dead Center he would've gotten infected, forcing players to have to kill him, which would be similar to the way Andy was infected in Dawn of the Dead when the Survivors tried to get a sandwich to him.

Whitaker is voiced by Dayton Callie.

Virgil
"Now this is a'far as Virgil goes, but y'all can make it to the bridge from here."

- Virgil

A character appearing in Left 4 Dead 2 with a Cajun accent. He drives the escape boat in Swamp Fever, has the Survivors gather fuel on the mainland and return to the boat in Hard Rain, then drops off the Survivors at the beginning of The Parish. Virgil may be immune to the virus and is saving Survivors out of good-will, and to use them to gather fuel. He has become a widower after his wife was killed by an Infected bite, and will occasionally refer to himself in third-person. His boat is named the Lagniappe, a reference to the Louisiana custom of the same name, meaning a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase, such as 13th donut when you buy a dozen.

He is voiced by Randall Newsome

Keith
"My buddy Keith lived in a graveyard once for a whole year -- it wasn't a dare or nothin', he just got kicked out of his house. He said he NEVER saw a single ghost 'cept for this one time when a ghost stabbed him from behind and took all his money, and he might've just been a homeless guy, 'cause he had a robe on with two eyes cut out his face."

- Ellis

Keith is Ellis' friend and is only known through stories Ellis tells while in a safe room. All that is known about Keith is the extent of his injuries that he has endured from the pair's redneck adventures and that he is may be black (if you consider the story about the homeless man in a sheet to be a racial assault).

If the stories are to be believed, Keith has: suffered third degree burns over 90% of his body twice (once making fireworks, once deep-frying turkey), broken both his legs after driving his car off a cliff, built a shack out of mud, has been stabbed while living in a graveyard after being evicted, been tear gassed by the police, snuck a paintball gun on a roller coaster, been attacked by an alligator, bombed by the military (Ellis claims they were nerve and cluster bombs), drowned in the Tunnel of Love, endured cuts on 90% of his body after falling under his own make-shift bumpercar made with a lawnmower, been cemented in a sewer after falling down an open manhole, hung loogies on the overhang in the Tunnel of Love, and fell off a roller coaster onto the tracks with the ride still going.

Graffiti in The Subway reads as “''Keith: Waited 3 days at the meeting spot after we got separated. I can’t wait anymore. Meet me at Mercy Hospital – Krista''." However this could just be another Keith (it's a fairly common name), and is unlikely a person would travel all the way from Georgia to Pennsylvania (the very place where the infection broke out) to get rescued.

There is speculation that Keith doesn't exist. However, after contacting Gabe Newell asking if Keith is actually real, he answered saying: "Keith isn’t imaginary, except, well, it is a video game, so it’s all imaginary."

Chicago Ted


Chicago Ted is an evidently confident and boastful Survivor, known for scrawling "No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted" on the wall of a safe room, though his actual zombie killing skill is not truly known. Whether or not he's still alive is unknown. He presumably originates from Chicago, Illinois.

Midnight Riders


The Midnight Riders are a metal band idolized by Ellis and Coach during the Dark Carnival campaign. They are acclaimed for their fantastic fireworks show and it is used to signal a helicopter pilot. Graffiti on the saferoom of the finale states that the Riders were evacuated by helicopter. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Poppa Gator
A very minor character in the series, Poppa Gator is a beloved CEDA figure who instructs the helicopter pilot to attempt to e-vac the survivors during finale of The Parish. He has so few lines that they can be counted on your hands.