Rayford

Rayford is a fictional suburban city set in Georgia. It is located between Savannah and the Whispering Oaks Carnival theme park.

Information
After the initial Green Flu outbreak across the United States, Rayford preferred to survive the Infection on their own. Well-equipped survivors were prepared to fight off the Infected, and homemade weapons such as molotov cocktails and Pipe bombs were stockpiled in huge numbers by the citizens. However, the sheer number of Infected finally overran the city piece by piece, and many of the survivors turned into Infected themselves. This is evidenced by the appearance of several Fallen Survivors in the east part of Rayford.

It seems CEDA tried to contain Rayford at some point due to the presence of infected CEDA agents in the Left 4 Dead 2 version of The Sacrifice, and several CEDA busses, in The Passing. However, the CEDA agents seen in The Sacrifice may have been on the military train that has derailed in the area. Crashed CEDA evacuation buses can also be seen in the streets. This suggests that CEDA may have only stepped in after Rayford began to lose the battle against the Infection. Although the citizens preferred to hold out by themselves, they most likely had no choice but to allow the agency to intervene. CEDA immediately evacuated as much of the population as possible, and established a defensive perimeter around The Port.

A live Tank specimen was brought through this city, whether CEDA or the Military captured it and whether it was in this very city or if it was just passing through is unknown. However, the train was unable to continue any further due to a collapsing bridge. The train cars subsequently crashed and were lost to the tide of Infected.

The Military also passed through this city at one point, helping to capture the Tank and guard it as the train passed through Rayford. By this point, all CEDA operations had been suspended by order of the United States Armed Forces. Rayford was more or less abandoned, as CEDA was crippled due to a thinning of ranks and more and more of their agents became Infected.

The Rayford Park area appears to have been one of the first places overrun by the Infection. A wedding was in progress here, and, although the citizens were prepared for the potential Infected assault, this took them completely off guard. This is further suggested by the massive stockpiles of grenade items around the wedding area. The Infection struck so suddenly that the guests were Infected, and the bride turned into a Witch. The Infection quickly spread to a tourist attraction, further down the city, where a city construction crew were working on a "Historic Under the River Tour", which possibly showcased some of the old cistern systems in an unused sewer. Again, the virus struck so suddenly that construction workers were entierly outdone.

Both of the groups come through this city. Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey enter from the north in a train they took all the way from Pennsylvania, while Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle enter by a car (presumably) from the east.

Landmarks

 * Rayford Park - In this park there was a wedding but the city was obviously overrun right in the middle of this wedding. The bride has turned into a Witch and the guests can be seen walking around.
 * Unfinished "Under the river tour" - A historical tourist attraction, however there is nothing in there yet. A hole in the floor links this to a sewer system.
 * Brick factory - A lot of Worker Infected are found in and outside here, and also a large amount of bricks. Outside a pool hall there is also a construction site and an unfinished "under the river tour" possibly linked to this factory.
 * The Port - This is the most notable setting in the city since it is in both The Sacrifice and The Passing. It is mostly blocked off from the rest of the city except for a Safe Room in the west and south part, so this was most likely CEDA's main holdout. There is also a relatively large bridge which is where the original Survivor group stays during The Passing.