Believe me, I've had that problem. Trying to think of a word I should know to describe a certain thing, then it kind of slips my mind. Annoying, it is.
I like the way you put it originally, though that's my opinion. I think it's better to not give a reader a suspicion or idea that they already know where something's going, because then they can stop reading and form their own endings without needing to continue. Adding a confusing or less-conspicuous note that doesn't initially swerve the story the way they think it'll go is what's needed to keep a reader's attention and move them through the rest of the story itself, and what keeps you away from the rest of the pack, so to say.

Thank you very much! Maybe I'll do the same for all the Special Infected? L4D is probably one of my few favorite online games. Though I didn't know whether to use the wandering witch or sitting witch at first, I just flipped a coin for that one. I'm dying to get my hands on L4D 3 when it comes out.
Okay, this one's from a dream I just had, quite literally.

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Tears streaked his face and made it hard to see, but there wasn't much to trip him up. Not even the debris of burned cars, bodies of those long dead, or discarded shrapnel of long-detonated bombs.

Usually both hands would be busy with a heavy gun. But it was slung over one shoulder, imitating the body of a girl on the other shoulder. Her amber hair hid her face, and her clothes had seen better days. He couldn't let her lie there among the other innumerable dead. Where was the dignity in that?

He didn't know how much longer he could go. Especially with an escaped tiger stalking every step.