South Pine Stream

South Pine Stream is the second chapter in the customised Cold Stream campaign. A DLC beta version was released in April 2011.

On exiting the safe room, teams find themselves in a broad tunnel filled with a fast flowing stream. The sun is quite low and shines directly into the team's eyes making it difficult to see, but fortunately there are only a couple of passive Common Infected to deal with in here. Moving forward with the water, teams emerge in a steep sided creek bed filled with large boulders around and behind which lurk numerous Common Infected.

The trick is to keep moving forward at a steady pace, engaging and mopping up on an as-is, where-is basis. Special Infected will appear regularly, these threats include Jockeys and Spitters plus the occasional Smoker, Charger and - more rarely - a Hunter.

Note that a glitch means that enemies who are standing close to hard cover in the form of one of the many boulders in the creek cannot be shot (even though they are in plain sight) unless the shooter moves to open out the angle.

Teams need to keep a good lookout in the creek bed since supplies occasionally turn up under water.

Note that a Magnum Pistol will probably be offered soon after exiting the tunnel, but thought is needed as to whether or not to pick it up since its magazine capacity is very limited relative to the number of enemies the user will be facing.

After a while, the creek bed enters an area in which it is: blocked by foliage, a rickety wooden structure is visible on the right and a clifftop section of road is in view. At this point, Tank music will come up and before long one of these fellows will make his appearance up in the road above from whence he will throw at least one (easily evaded) rocks before clambering down to attack the team.

Once he has been dispatched, the team use the aforesaid structure to climb up the cliff to the road and receive their reward: Tier 2 weapons, Health Packs and related combat supplies. Moving on down the road, the team will encounter heavy opposition from Common and Special Infected - so much so that it is usually a good idea to run back to the weapons cache to resupply with fresh weapons and the ammo they contain. Going on, the team will reach a road block and an obvious indication that they must turn left back down to the creek bed. At this point, a peek over the cliff edge reveals the area below to be thickly populated with alert and aggressive Common Infected who respond by storming up towards the Survivors. In response, the team should lay down an initial blanket of fire and then begin to move steadily down towards the creek bed as they gain the upper hand in the fight. A crashed military Hummer next to the creek (evidently it went off the road above) will have a box of Incendary or Explosive Ammo on its hood.

Immediately in front of them the team will see a large bridge structure. Moving downstream towards this ediface, the team will see a way out of the creek bed to the left. Turning up here and taking out the Infected in this area is the next task. Once accomplished, the team will have one of the few brief moments of peace in the chapter (and indeed in the entire campaign) so while everyone catches their breath, if they look around to the left they will spot some minor health supplies on the ground.

Proceeding past a second Hummer brings the team up onto the bridge. Evidently this was a combined police-military-CEDA facility since the bridge is heavily barricaded and a CEDA tent can be seen as the area is mopped up and explored. The bridge is heavily infested with enemies and teams should be under no illusions as to the demands that will be placed upon them. However once the area is secure, ammo can be replenished from a pile near the CEDA tent and the team can respond to an on-screen announcement drawing attention to a demolition charge propped up on the bridge's downstream parapet.

Standing at a safe distance, a team member should fire at the demolition charge until it explodes. This process will take a while since multiple shots are needed to set it off. Once it goes off, a section of the bridge is destroyed, barricades are dropped - and a vast Crescendo horde is triggered. This is an exciting event as it challenges the team's ability to lay down a carpet of fire on a seemingly unstoppable horde at relatively close ranges. As always, odds can be evened up for a hard pressed team by throwing a Bile Jar or Pipe Bomb. Note that a few enemies may charge from the team's left-rear across the bridge - so a eye needs to be kept on this angle too.

Once the horde has been culled, teams should quickly revisit the ammo pile and then proceed back down to the creek bed where it now enters a large underground tunnel. The water's velocity has noticeably increased and it is recommended that teams move to hug the right hand wall of the tunnel. Moving forward, the team sidles around an obstruction before ending up behind a set of vertical steel pylons embedded in the tunnel wall. At around this point, a warning message concerning the speed of the water will have flashed up on the player's screen and a death's head image will appear at the end of the tunnel.

Note that a careless or inexperienced player who gets caught in the current will be swept over a waterfall where they will be left hanging in hope of rescue. If a player is incapacitated in the current, that person will still go over the waterfall but instead of hanging on, they will fall to their death. AI Bots are seemingly immune from being taken over the waterfall.

To avoid the risk of being swept away, the team simply needs to dodge around the pylons and get back against the right hand tunnel wall. After a short distance, a doorway will appear which the team must dart into - dispatching a couple of Common Infected found immediately inside. The area features a flooding stairway and an inoperative elevator whose design will be instantly familiar to all L4D2 players.

Teams take the stairway and descend into the structure. A scattering of Common Infected will be met on the way together with a Charger or Spitter. On reaching the bottom of the stairs, a short section of passageway leads to a most welcome safe room.