Hey guys, its Yobloc20 here. So I'm back, sorry about that. Promise I won't do it again :P So let's pick up where we left off. It was so goddamn warm while I was writing this; it was rather torturous work… Favourite, Review and Enjoy! Valve owns all characters except my OC's.

Chapter 4: Foresight

The weather hadn't brightened up much from yesterday. In fact, the weather hadn't really changed much since yesterday. The chilly wind that roamed they yard when they arrived yesterday was still present.

This was the same tarmac yard they arrived in, the same yard the helicopter had landed in. This was their apparent 'exercise area', but Ellis found a lack of actual exercise equipment to use so he couldn't exactly figure out what they were supposed to do. In actual fact, there was precisely nothing in the yard, just Ellis and his friends as they stood together in the middle of the area.

In the slight gap between the two rows of high fences, both of which Ellis noted slightly jutted outwards at the top, stopping anything from climbing in from the outside fence and anything climbing out from the inside fence. This was a bit of overkill considering the nasty looking military-grade barbed wire that was hung on top of the fence also. In between the two rows of fences were armed guards, they patrolled the fence with suppressed firearms.

While there was a layer of trees all around the perimeter of the barricade, at the corner of the yard, the shrubbery met the fence, making it a blind spot for the guards as the infected could easily attack from the cover of the trees.

There were limited activities to do in the compound. There was a 'rec room' through another set of doors in the cafeteria, but all it involved was a deck of cards, a worn out chess board and many bookshelves which looked rather boring. The survivors found themselves sitting around a lot.

"So, what did you guys make of that crazy guy this morning?" Nick suddenly asked, hands in his pockets.

"He looked delusional. I imagine he was." Coach shrugged, staring off into the distance.

Nick was obviously just trying to find more reasons to convince them something was wrong with this place but they were having none of it.

"It's freezing out here, can we go inside?" Rochelle asked as she rubbed her exposed arms for warmth.

Coach nodded and made his way to back inside. The others followed closely behind him. All they could do all day was transfer from inside to outside, hoping to find something to keep them busy. The point was, the four were so used to always being in action, always being in the tips of their toes, ready for anything the infection could throw at them. Because if this and being locked up in a compound with no tasks or objective, their only expectation was to sit around all day and behave for the guards.

This was a rather drastic change in lifestyles compared to the usual expectation of staying alive at whatever cost. The truth was, they were bored out of their minds.

The four trudged back into the Rec room and were introduced with a few glares from around the room. They sat down at a table and relaxed again, nobody knowing what to say.

"Anyone up for a game of cards?" Nick suggested as he produced a pack of cards he had found on the other table.

Coach nodded and Nick served out the cards to the other three.

"Blackjack. I'm dealing. I presume you all know how to play." The conman instructed blankly as he got a chorus of nods.

Nick watched in amusement as he inspected each of their styles. The thing is, how you play cards often says a lot about the kind of person you are.

Nick watched closely as Ellis would often wildly ask for another card even if he already had a high number already. It was obvious that Ellis was a risk taker and didn't really care too much about the consequences of losing but rather the profits of winning. A happy-go-lucky kind of style. This was obvious in his personality and it was obvious in the way he played cards.

Rochelle was far more timid and sensible, always playing it safe. So pretty much the opposite of Ellis. She wouldn't be the one to take action but rather to follow by example as she did with Coach. She would never be the one to make a tough decision for the group. But her patience and sensibility would often pay off and her sensibility would get her the win.

Coach was somewhere in between the two personalities. He would often usually have a careful approach but eventually he would go crazy and go for another card when the situation screamed not to. He was bold but at the same time wise and Nick admired him for it.

Funny how much you can learn about a person by their style of playing cards.

Nick felt eyes glaring at the back of his head. He quickly turned his head and saw the same girl from the cafeteria last night, once again glaring at him with those same piercing eyes, the stare almost cut through him. She sat a few tables away with her three friends.

Nick had no idea why this girl was still glaring at him. He had got in staring competition with her last night in the canteen but he had forgotten about it.

Apparently she hadn't.

Nick turned back around to his friends who were waiting patiently for him to deal new cards for them. Nick needed answers from Bennett.

"Sorry guys, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Play on without me." Nick absentmindedly excused himself as he rose from his seat and left, not waiting for a response.

Nick strolled through the doors and across the now mostly empty cafeteria before reaching the large doors he came in from yesterday. A soldier stood in front of it with an automatic shotgun.

"I need to talk to Bennett." Nick explained to the man as he stuffed his hands nonchalantly into his trouser pockets.

"What? Feeling homesick already?" The guard sneered at the conman. Nick just scowled and narrowed his stare at the man.

"No smartass, I want to talk to him. I have a few questions." Nick grumbled, not in the mood for this guy to be a pest towards him.

The guard chuckled to himself and turned around to the door, pulling a keycard from his back pocket and quickly scanning it over a panel. The door buzzed and the soldier opened the large door.

"Stay in my line of sight at all times." The guard instructed Nick as he quietly nodded in response.

The conman followed the soldier through the seemingly endless halls of the compound. Nick observed the staff that busily passed him through the halls, not even bothering to look up from their clipboards to see where they were going.

The guard stopped at a door at the end of a hallway and knocked on it, tapping his foot as he waited for someone to open the door. Nick heard rustling and shuffling on the other side of the door before the handle carefully slowly turned and the door opened, revealing Bennett gazing back at the two with a questionable stare.

"This guy wanted to have a word with you." The soldier gestured to Nick behind him.

"Alright, let him in."

Nick squeezed past the guard and stepped into the office. A military radio buzzed with static on the desk. The guard closed the door from the outside as Bennett strolled back around his desk, gesturing for Nick to sit down as he did himself. He switched the radio off and placed it into the top drawer of his desk.

"You have questions?"

Nick cleared his dry throat as he thought about how he would phrase what he wanted to ask. He needed information about the crazy guy this morning. He needed information about the girl that kept staring at him. What was going on outside the fence of the compound, how long were they going to be staying here?

"I'm going to take it you want to ask about the little 'incident' in the cafeteria this morning." Bennett presumed as he ran both hands through his receding, grey hair.

Nick nodded silently as he sat up in his chair.

"The guy that was involved is called Randall. Since he's arrived, he has been pulling stunts like that every once in a while. He's convinced everyone is out to get him." Bennett answered stoically. He sat right up in his seat, his shoulders slightly hunched.

"Where is he now?" Nick asked without even really thinking about it.

"He is in the infirmary right now, my assistant is reasoning with him. Seems to be the only guy he listens to." Bennett shrugged.

"You have an assistant? Is that the guy we met when we first got here yesterday?" Nick questioned, he wanted to extract as much information as possible as he didn't know how many more times he would actually be allowed to have these conversations with Bennett.

"No no no no. The man you met yesterday was Sergeant Austin. He is the guard commander, gives them orders, daily training, that sort of thing." It was as if Bennett knew exactly what Nick was about to ask next.

"Alright, I suppose that has cleared some things up. Thanks I guess." Nick exclaimed as he sat up.

"Hey, before you go, what's your name? I never got it." Bennett asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nick wasn't really sure why this guy wanted Nicks name, he contemplated giving a fake one but decided against it.

"Nick. My name is Nick."

"Alright Nick, don't worry about all that nonsense this morning. Randall will be back with your group soon." Bennett explained as Nick made way for the door.

Nick didn't care about this Randall guy or what happened to him. He was a complete stranger and honestly, a complete madman in his eyes.

The conman knew he had to be on his best behavior around Bennett. Nick feared if he was an ass to him, Bennett would slowly become less supportive of helping Nick with this kind of information. As much as he hated to admit it, Nick had to suck up to this guy for the time being.

Nick exited the room and closed the door behind him. The soldier that escorted him here was further down the hall, chatting to another guard. He hadn't notice Nick leave the office. A woman came from the other end of the office and walked over to the door that was opposite of Nick. It needed a code entry for entry. A sign next to the door read: Authorized Personnel Only.

Nick leaned his back into the wall behind him as the woman began to put in the code into the panel.

4-6-1-7

The light above the code panel briefly flashed green as she opened the door and entered. Why was there a code entry for this door?

"Hey, how long have you been standing out here for?!"

Nick was sprung back to reality. He hadn't noticed the guard who escorted him there had come back to him.

"I only got out there, calm down." Nick reasoned with the soldier who just grumbled something to himself.

The guard gestured for Nick to follow him again, he was bringing him back to the cafeteria. But something was still bothering Nick. Something that didn't bother him before his talk with Bennett.

"What are they hiding behind that door?"

In the ocean

"Holy shit. I can't believe it. We made it. We finally made it."

The shore sat only a few meters away from the three of them, teasing them in a way. They edged closer and closer to the beach.

"We're here. We are actually here. We did it, holy shit, we did it."

The bottom of the boat began to scrape against the sea floor. They had actually made it. The boat eventually crashed in against the beach, sinking into the soft sand.

"We did it Bill. We are here because of you. This is for you."

Zoey was the first to jump off the boat and landed onto the soft, wet sand. It stuck to the bottom of her sneakers but she didn't care in the slightest. They had finally made it to the Florida Keys. Zoey was glad to be back on solid ground but even more delighted to be on the solid ground of the Florida Keys.

Francis and Louis joined her on land as they sauntered up behind her. Zoey turned around and crushed them both in a death-grip like hug. They both laughed and embraced the young woman back.

"We made it! Holy shit, I can't believe we actually made it!" Louis exclaimed as Zoey released them from the hug.

"We're finally here Louis. We're safe now." Zoey stated with a smile while Francis had walked back to the boat to pick up some things for their excursion of the island.

Louis was relieved to see Zoey happy again. She had been through so much, she deserved this far more than he or Francis ever did. Bill dying had really changed her, she had become very quiet and reserved, tending to keep more to herself.

Then the other group of four showed up and slowly but surely, the old Zoey began to reappear with their presence. Now she was finally going to be safe.

"Come on, let's get more inland. We need to find shelter quickly." Francis instructed as he he handed them both back packs filled as much as possible with food and other supplies, one already on his back. They were still leaving some things back at the boat as they couldn't bring everything with them.

They nodded in response as they quickly strolled back to the boat to get their weapons. Zoey hooked the katana around her back and placed the pistols back to their holsters, her trusty Hunting Rifle in her hands. She hopped back off the boat and rejoined her two friends again as left the boat on the beach and they pushed further inland into the island.

Francis cut down the tree branches with his machete, Louis and Zoey giving him sufficient space to swing the blade. It was humid but wet as they cut though the tree line, condensation on the leaves splashing onto Zoey as she brushed a branch aside.

"I hate bugs." Francis stated in his usual grumpy voice as he swatted away an insect that was buzzing around his face. Zoey gave a slight giggle at his struggle.

"Yes, we know Francis, you hate everything. You even hate the-

Louis didn't finish his sentence. He froze completely on the spot and raised a finger, gesturing for the other two to listen closely. Zoey instantly noticed the worry on his face. Something was quite clearly wrong.

"Oh God, what's wrong."

They could hear in the not so far distance, a distinct familiar sound that echoed in their ears and produced fear and pain in their minds.

They could hear crying.