The Survivors

The Survivors are people in the world who have not yet contracted the infection, however the term is commonly used to refer to the four playable characters. Although they are immune, a comment by Bill suggests that they could become an Infected at any point. Fortunately, this does not happen during the game. It is never explained thus far how these people all have met each other, or how long they have been together before the start of the game.

Playable Survivors
Each playable Survivor has his or her own unique appearance, personality and back-story, making them easier to identify at a distance. Players can choose which Survivor they control in the lobby, or be automatically assigned to a Survivor that is not being controlled by a player when they join a game that is already in progress.

Every Survivor plays the same, their differences have no effect in gameplay.

Bill


Bill is a Vietnam veteran who served in the US Army 1st Special Forces Group. His combat skills have helped to keep him alive, and is also the oldest of the group. In official media, he is usually seen wielding the assault rifle, probably to complement his back-story. He and Francis have a strenuous relationship. 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 is another of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead. His 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 could be older depending on what age she was when she entered college). She typically uses the rifle. 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 Sonja Kinski instead.

Zoey is voiced by Jen Taylor.

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.

Anonymous Survivors
As well as the four playable Survivors, there are also known to be many more uninfected humans fighting the Infected and trying to escape the area that the ten campaigns take place in. All except the chopper pilot remain unseen and most remain unnamed; however, they are evident by graffiti left around most of the chapters, mainly in the safe houses. The safe houses themselves are proof of other Survivors, as they are pre-created before the playable Survivors get to them, which implies other humans have created them to give other Survivors a place to rest and stock up on ammo. In some graffiti it is also stated that there were more Survivors who were immune. The only other Survivors you encounter are only spoken with, either through radio in an evacuation finale, or in the case of the "Church Guy" who locks you out of the safe room and tries to kill you by attracting a horde.

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.

"Church guy"
The “Church guy” 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 female survivor who claimed to be immune, yet became an Infected; Church Guy deemed himself immune to the virus after waiting an hour. As a result he suffers from extreme paranoia of Survivors, and it has obviously driven him to insanity. Ultimately, it turns out the Church Guy isn't immune after all; he will change into a Hunter, Smoker, or Boomer.

He repeatedly says "better safe than sorry" and causes a Crescendo Event where he rings the church bell to attract a horde to kill the Survivors, apparently viewing this as a way for them to "prove their immunity/humanity". After the event, 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 (Hunter), cough (Smoker), or gurgle (Boomer) 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. His voice actor, Nathan Vetterlein, also voiced the Scout from Valve's Team Fortress 2.

The Survivor who infected him is male, judging by the audio files. However, you can see a corpse of a female slumped against the wall in the safe room when you walk in. It does not appear to be a Common Infected, but a body that spawns there to set the mood like the dead soldiers on the roof of Mercy Hospital. However, this may be a slip up by the creators, or she could have been killed by biting him.

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.

Whitaker
Whitaker is 60 years old and owns a gun shop located in front of Liberty Mall in the Dead Center campaign. 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 obtain 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.

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. Coincidentally, both became Infected during flight. 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!"

Chicago Ted
Chicago Ted is an evidently egotistical Survivor, known for scrawling "No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted" on the wall of a safe room. Whether or not he's still alive is unknown. He presumably originates from Chicago, Illinois.

A recent interview shows that Chicago Ted may return in Left 4 Dead 2. However he is no where to be found in Left 4 Dead 2 so far.

Keith
A friend of Ellis'. He is often mentioned in stories Ellis tells while in a safe room. If Ellis' stories are to be believed, Keith has suffered from third degree burns over 90% of his body twice, broke both of his legs, built a shack out of mud, been stabbed by a homeless man, got tear gassed by the police, attacked by an alligator, bombed by the military ("Not just regular bombs!" - among the bombs, Ellis claims, were nerve gas and cluster bombs), drowned in the Tunnel of Love, got cut up by his own "bumper-car" lawn mower leaving him with wounds over 90% of his body, got trapped in a sewer after falling down an open manhole, and fell off a roller coaster onto the tracks with the ride still going. Ellis mentions telling Keith about fighting through the first chapter of the Dead Center campaign with the other Survivors, so he was either still alive last time Ellis saw him, or never existed to begin with. It is possible he never existed in the first place, and Ellis simply made him up to make himself seem tougher, since he dies many times in Ellis' stories, like drowning in the tunnel of love and being bombed by the military. At one point Ellis even confuses the survivors fighting their way through the building in Dead Center for something that happened to Keith ("I ever tell you about the time my buddy Keith and I were on the top of a burnin' building, and we had to fight our way down like five floors of zombies an - hey, wait a second. I guess that was you guys. Oh shit, man, I can't wait to tell Keith about that one!"). If Keith is real and is indeed alive, it is very possible and likely that he survived and is fighting the horde, seeing as a burning, stabbing, a bombing, and an alligator attack still failed to kill him.

Virgil
A character appearing in Left 4 Dead 2. 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 zombie virus and is saving Survivors out of good-will, and to use them to gather fuel. He occasionally refers to himself in third-person. His boat says Lagniappe on it. This is 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. This could be hinting at Virgil's cause of helping survivors merely out of good-will. Virgil mentions occassionally how his wife became infected which could possibly mean that Virgil himself is a carrier.

He is voiced by Randall Newsome

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.

Trivia

 * The Survivors were changed from their original looks to the new look to make them appear like someone you may encounter in real life, to make them look more "realistic". Survivors in Left 4 Dead 2 started from this, but still, have changed from the first screenshots and videos (everyone but Nick).
 * It seems possible that each scenario is geared towards being the "home" of one of the four Survivors.
 * Bill makes a comment about the trailer in Blood Harvest, asking Francis if it reminded him of home, although this is most likely intended as an insult to Francis. This could also mean that Francis does live in a trailer somewhere.
 * Louis seems to know somewhat trivial pieces of information involving the sewer system of Riverside. He also seems to know his way around Fairfield, even in the sewer; he knows when the Survivors have arrived at the hospital.
 * Zoey said that she always liked the main street in Riverside, and also, in some early Left 4 Dead 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 is possible to reach the hospital by going through the waterworks (which leads into the sewer).
 * In the beta of Left 4 Dead, Zoey and Francis show some sort of affection towards each other, this proved to be too distracting, so it was removed.
 * The beta of Zoey looks like Chell from the popular Valve game Portal.
 * Chicago Ted's graffiti is based off a piece of graffiti found by Erik Wolpaw and Sean "Seanbaby" Reilly
 * The helicopter pilots in the No Mercy and Dark Carnival campaign and Whitaker in the Dead Center campaign (using No Clip) are the only Survivors that players can actually see alive in person (Not counting the "Church Guy" who is never actually witnessed until becoming Infected).
 * Despite popular demand, it appears that the original survivors are not in Left 4 Dead 2. However, given news of an upcoming L4D announcement, it's possible they'll be incorporated at a later point.
 * Several of of the scrapped quotes for the Helicopter Pilot appear to be warnings of the appearance of Special Infected.
 * Virgil is currently the only Survivor in the Left 4 Dead series to actually accompany the main Survivors in the game without falling victim to the Infection like No Mercy's helicopter pilot. This may imply, ironically, that the survivors themselves are carriers of the virus (meaning that Virgil was simply immune, or is also a carrier.)
 * The character Virgil is a possible reference to Virgil of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, a roman poet that guided Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Virgil of Left 4 Dead 2 provides a similar role in guiding the survivors from one area to another.
 * The helicopter pilot also makes an appearance in Left 4 Dead 2, the pilot of the chopper at the end of the Dark Carnival campaign is very similar if not the same as the one in the original Left 4 Dead. (Unlikely, as they both turn infected and get shot)
 * Helicopter pilots becoming Infected in mid-flight appears to be a running gag in Left 4 Dead games.
 * Helicopters don't seem to be the best rescue vehicle in the Left 4 Dead series, seeing as the pilot always becomes infected and crashes.